I'm a firm believer in the statement that you are responsible for your own actions. Regardless if these culprits acted bases on influence of whatever TV show they orginally saw the "fire in the hole" prank on, one has to believe that they were predetermined to act in a way that's detrimental to society with or without any so called influence.

In response to the ethics of posting of the video on Youtube, this is where the free speech blurs the line. I believe the victim in the video is somewhat in the same situation as many celebrities. They are always in the publics eye with negative images by paparazzi. It's the same with the victim. If the images are public and available, there really isn't much the victim can do to remove himself from the public's eye.

The last thing I would like to respond to is the question of:

Is the media hyping the prank excessively, or is the media making the public aware of a disturbing prank?

The media serves only one purpose and that purpose is profit. It doesn't matter if the news meaningful, all that matters is if the news will interest people enough to get viewers and ratings. In this case, all that matters is if the public is interested. It's cynical but it's the American way.