I see that John Karr has gotten back into the act. The act, of course, is being a personage on national television, in “the tabs,” and in the gossip columns of major newspapers and even possibly being a referent in the nationally syndicated column of Maureen Dowd. She is a pop culture Grotius.

It is being part of the media whirl of fools and rogues, perverts, and defenseless public figures (some distinguished), who are all gasped over by our talking heads, or purred over, or otherwise pronounced upon sagely. Increasingly, the vernacular employed by the sagacious talking heads is that of the pompous high school know-it-all. Anderson Cooper is given to the construction,”that is sooo uncool or un … ” whatever the negative might be.And the other day, Miles O’Brien greeted his own news story about the American population passing the 300 million mark with some variant of “Why am I not impressed?”I suppose they learn this lingo from their teenaged children. Or maybe they have never quite left high school.Will Anderson and Miles have a smirk for John Mark Karr soon? JMK is not admired by the networks, but he is avidly sought after.

JMK is that odd, misshapen little fellow who turned up in Thailand and found himself accused of the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. He quickly admitted to the foul deed, and chose his words with the proper hints of mystery, romance, and perversion that suggested to those of us who follow the vulgarity of the media whirl that JMK was going to make it to prime time, if only he could somehow avoid the slammer. He did, when no evidence whatsoever linked him to the murder and he was shipped off to Los Angeles on an old child pornography charge.Admittedly, JMK is a revolting specimen, but that is just what prime time needs these days, and so, soon we read reports of ABC’s “Good Morning America” courting him and NBC’s “Today Show” too.

“Good Morning America” got the leap on its competitors when the day after JMK’s October 5 release from a Los Angeles hoosegow, ABC producers lured him into a limousine and drove him by a San Francisco school where he had been a teacher’s aide. I guess they thought this would make a dramatic staging area for whatever they planned to coax out of him, somewhat like bringing Mark Foley to a Gold’s Gym or Osama bin Laden to a pig farm. Apparently JMK got out of the car, ventured toward the playground, and did some disturbing things: things that “gave us serious pause and ABC decided not to proceed with the interview.” Thus spoke Jeffrey Schneider, an ABC spokesman with high standards. Nonetheless, his colleagues let JMK back into their limousine and off they went.

Then “Today” made its approach.The show has a credentialed self-help author and “therapist” of the magnitude of “Dr. Phil” (whoever he might be) by the name of Keith Ablow, who is launching his own morning show. He interviewed JMK for an hour or so, and excerpts appeared on “Today” last Friday. Apparently that caused controversy. Dr. Ablow insists that he is “on the side of the angels,” claiming that the interview serves a high public purpose.”It’s a rare chance to see what’s inside the mind of someone who has expressed a desire to have sexual contact with little girls,” Dr. Ablow told the Associated Press.”I am baffled,”he went on,”as to why anybody would consider this anything other than a public health or communications victory for the American people and parents everywhere.”

So Dr. Ablow is a serious fellow. His staff flew JMK to New York and paid for his lodgings, but nothing more, just standard talk-show procedure, according to Laura Mandel, a program official. Still, questions remain. The New York Post reported that JMK was plied with strong drink before appearing with Dr. Ablow, who disputes the charge, insisting he was “stone cold sober.” Well, perhaps they both were, but Mr. Karr had asked for white wine, and even Dr. Ablow’s staff admits he was given white grape juice instead. Now did NBC staffers deceive their guest? Have journalistic ethics been breached here? What damage might this do to Dr. Ablow’s journalistic reputation?

Next JMK appeared on Fox’s “On the Record” with Greta Van Susteren and on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”What did these networks promise this immediate prime time phenomenon? How about a lifesize teddy bear? A life-size anatomically correct teddy bear? As I suspected when first we saw the petulant John Karr in handcuffs in Thailand, this guy was made for prime time, the media swirl, and more. Suggestive of the future already carved out for him was a dramatic question posed by Mr. King the other night: “Anybody proposed a movie about you?” “Not yet, not yet,” was the cryptic reply. “Would you be interested,” probed the Edward R. Murrow of our time. “Yes,” a pregnant “yes” from Mr. Karr. This guy is not going to disappear anytime soon. I wonder if he is planning to adopt an African orphan.

Mr. Tyrrell is founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator, a contributing editor of The New York Sun, and an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute.