Banking Privacy, Media Bias and Sports Betting
Federal officials reach a bank privacy agreement with Swiss bank UBS.
The death of news anchor Walter Cronkite sparks debate over the ideal of journalistic objectivity in news coverage.
The NCAA and four professional leagues challenge state laws on sports betting in federal court.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the entertaining and insightful CEI podcast.
1. BUSINESS
Federal officials reach a bank privacy agreement with Swiss bank UBS.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on the bad faith demonstrated by U.S. investigators:
“After UBS – with the Swiss government’s full cooperation – turned over the names of 250 customers suspected of violating U.S. tax laws, the U.S. government turned around and asked for a whopping 52,000 additional names. The Swiss government naturally objected to such a fishing expedition as a violation of the nation’s privacy laws. Switzerland rightly argued that such a large volume of names could not be justified by probable cause or ‘reasonable suspicion,’ a requirement of the tax treaty Switzerland had negotiated with the U.S. In addition, such a fishing expedition goes against the spirit of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects Americans from ‘unreasonable searches.’”
2. MEDIA
The death of news anchor Walter Cronkite sparks debate over the ideal of journalistic objectivity in news coverage.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Regulatory Studies Fellow Ryan Young on the myth of objectivity:
“An objective media would be nice. But we are unlikely to ever see such a thing. Even the very best reporters are human. And humans are biased. Different people are biased in different ways, of course. But objectivity is still a fiction. Being open about this ugly truth could do much to reduce public confusion. If readers have a clearer idea of what exactly they’re reading, they can run the articles through their liberal and conservative B.S. filters as needed, and more easily get to the heart of the matter.”
3. LEGAL
The NCAA and four professional leagues challenge state laws on sports betting in federal court.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Michelle Minton on how the association has overstepped its role:
“As a private organization the NCAA has every right to ban championship games from being played in states that permit per-game gambling, if it sees this as necessary to protect the reputation of its games among spectators. But what the NCAA should not be doing is attempting to expand the scope of an improper federal ban.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.