Injustice in the U.S. Justice System

By BEN COHEN

Marc Weinreich has pulled for the Knicks so long that his childhood bedroom was painted blue and orange. Now he owns a 42-inch high-definition flat-screen television in his Manhattan apartment and wants to watch a team worth watching for the first time in his adult life.

While Jason Lin has reignited interest in the New York Knicks, more than two million cable customers have been unable to watch the action on television. Ben Cohen on Lunch Break explains how some fans are tracking Linsanity the old fashioned way.

But with Jeremy Lin setting the Knicks on fire, Weinreich has reluctantly followed along the old-fashioned way: He’s been listening on the radio.

“It’s like we’re back in old times,” said Weinreich, a 29-year-old Columbia graduate student who streams the ESPN 1050 audio feed through his laptop. “The nostalgia aspect is nice, but it wears off quickly.”

Weinreich is one of more than two million Time Warner Cable Inc. customers without Madison Square Garden Co.’s MSG sports network since Jan. 1. The contract dispute has sent countless New Yorkers searching for inventive ways to track Linsanity in real time.

For many, that means prowling the Internet for live streams. Others seek out sports bars. And some have scrambled to find the Knicks’ radio network. Ratings for WEPN over the first three weeks of January—Lin’s breakout performance came Feb. 4—were already up 6% from 2011 among men between ages 25 and 54, according to Arbitron Inc. Radio data for February won’t be released until March.

ESPN New York’s website, which hosts the radio feed, received 2.8 million page views Wednesday, beating the Monday after the Super Bowl. The Knicks’ win over the Lakers on Feb. 10 was the most-streamed game of the season on ESPN3.com, per numbers provided by ESPN. “We expect to see a nice boost in the numbers when they come in,” said David Roberts, the station’s general manager.

Norm Scott, a 66-year-old retired teacher, was working in his Rockaway Beach home Tuesday night when he pulled out his transistor radio. In the late 1960s, Scott used to tune in for Marv Albert’s broadcasts, though he alternates between NPR and WFAN these days. “I go from Joe Benigno to Brian Lehrer,” he said.

He has four TVs—including a 46-inch Internet TV and a 37-inch screen in what he called a “mini man cave”—but still prefers a transistor radio and his pair of half-broken headphones. In the game’s last minute, intrigued with the Knicks mounting a comeback, Scott unplugged his headphones to hear the call clearly. For at least one night, Lin had conjured the franchise’s glory days.

“Marv Albert was so unbelievable on the radio that you didn’t need a TV,” Scott said.

Spero Dedes grew up in New Jersey devoted to Mike Breen’s broadcasts of Knicks games. Now the first-year radio voice of the Knicks, Dedes also fills in for Breen on MSG. He said more people recently have stopped him on the street and told him on Twitter that they’re especially dependent on his radio calls. “It would’ve been exciting under normal circumstances, but you add Lin, and it’s taken the whole thing to a different level,” Dedes said.

On Wednesday evening, without MSG at home in Rochester, N.Y., Jeremy Buffone pulled up the ESPN 1050 link on his laptop. The 26-year-old actuary couldn’t recall another time he chose to listen to a Knicks game when he wasn’t stuck in a car. “I definitely miss Clyde’s voice,” he said, referring to MSG analyst Walt Frazier. “But in the meantime, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.”

Calvin Reid couldn’t help but notice the absurdity of his own dilemma. It was halftime of the Knicks’ win over the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night, and instead of marveling at Lin on his 40-inch TV, Reid had connected his radio to stereo speakers while his wife, Jody Culkin, kept up on her iPhone. The television occasionally flashed delayed highlights from Madison Square Garden.

“Here I am, surrounded by sophisticated media of all types, paying out the wazoo so I can get cable, and what am I doing?” said Reid, a 60-year-old Publishers Weekly editor. “I’m listening to the Knicks on the radio like I was 12 years old.”

Later that evening, they visited a Lower East Side bar to watch the fourth quarter of the most recent Knicks win.

Joe Caporoso was actually playing hoops in his men’s league Tuesday when he spotted a radio in the corner of the gym. He scanned for ESPN 1050 reception and kept the Knicks game on in the background until the fourth quarter, when he and his friends huddled around the radio to experience Lin’s game-winning three. “I don’t have a car anymore, and that was really the only time I listened to the radio,” said Caporoso, 24, who works in digital advertising in Manhattan. “When he hit the buzzer-beater, everyone was going crazy, like the Knicks were going to the NBA finals.”

Lin had a similar effect on local radio at Harvard. The AM/FM airwaves remain a reliable way to track Ivy League sports, and Harvard senior Scott Reed, who broadcasted Lin’s games as a play-by-play analyst and color commentator, recalled student-run WHRB expanding its audience during Lin’s college career.

New Yorkers have been dusting off their radios since MSG went dark on Time Warner Cable four games into the Knicks’ season. The network and cable operator have since disputed the rate Time Warner Cable will pay to carry MSG. “While it’s not a substitute for watching the games, our hope is that they can either go out to a bar or listen to the radio to keep updated,” said Time Warner Cable spokesperson Maureen Huff.

Time Warner Cable subscribers can occasionally catch their hometown team on national television. The Knicks’ Sunday matchup with the Mavericks will be carried by ABC, while YES Network will air their rematch with the Nets on Sunday and TNT has their Thursday trip to Miami.

But MSG still owns the vast majority of broadcasts, and ratings for Knicks games are up more than 130% from this time last season, even without Time Warner Cable viewers. MSG has also hosted more than 30 viewing parties at locations across the state, including a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown this week, a spokesman said.

Weinreich went so far as calling Time Warner Cable in January and again in February to find out when he might see the Knicks without scouring for a signal, stream or sports bar. Until then, he’s embracing the airwaves. He doesn’t have much choice.

“For better or worse, it leaves a lot to the imagination,” Weinreich said. “But I can’t see why I’d listen to the radio when I could be watching in HD.”

By MARY PILON

This summer, droves of school-age children will attend summer camp, where they will paddle canoes, play tennis and make crafts from paste and yarn. Others, will go to finance camp, where they will take excursions to a local bank or delve into budgeting and investing simulations. Rather than singing around the campfire, they will chant personal-finance mantras like these sung at Camp Millionaire in Santa Barbara, Calif.: “Financial freedom is your choice” and “Assets feed you, liabilities eat you.”

Ed Koren

In the past, business and finance camps attracted high-achieving high-school students. Now, with the country’s uncertain economy, financial education is expanding to an unlikely audience — younger kids, even grade-school students. They are also reaching out to those from diverse economic backgrounds. And the lessons are surprisingly sophisticated, teaching campers how to rebalance portfolios, invest in real estate and use credit cards without getting dinged on fees.

At Camp Millionaire, campers in five days create a minieconomy based around “moola” — mock currency that features a cow’s portrait — which kids use to spend, invest in stocks and compete with each other. They also use the fake currency to pay their “bills,” running around and depositing moola in large envelopes with labels like “phone bill” and “credit card bill.” Parents spend the real moola to send their kids to the weeklong session, which ranges from $279 to $300. Scholarships are available, based on financial need.

“Adults underestimate kids’ abilities. Investing — they’ll get it and be interested in it,” says counselor Pamela Capalad.

Andrew Adams, of Santa Barbara, attended the camp twice, once when he was 10 years old and again two years later. “He was coming home with words like ‘adversely affect your credit score,’ ” says his mother, Denice Adams.

Andrew pointed out to his mother that her credit-card billing cycle had changed, and that she wasn’t keeping up with payments. Her delays were racking up late fees, jacking up her interest rate and hurting her credit score. After considering her non-discretionary household expenses (his words), Andrew also pronounced that the mortgage on their Santa Barbara home was too high for her income. Now 15 years old, Andrew has launched his own small travel business and is a financial-news junkie.

Gauging Risk

At YoungBiz’s Smart Start to Money Camp in Sarasota, Fla., campers ages 13 to 18 are asked to toss a ball into a bucket, earning more points the farther away they stand. It aims to teach kids about risk tolerance and lead them into a discussion about stocks and asset allocation. How far away from the bucket they’re willing to stand might tell them something about their investing style.

Bonding Over Banking

Girls only? Read about finance camps for girls, and join a discussion on WSJ.com’s Front Lines.

Campers pay $100 to $300 for the three-day session, in which they form teams and compete to create the best portfolio. In 2001, during one of the first camps, one camper pleaded with his teammates to buy stock in a then-risky company, eBay. His peers lobbied for safer bets, like utility companies. After a fiery debate, the team passed on eBay but agreed on an alternative stock allocation. They won the competition because counselors were so impressed with their cooperation.

Camp Challenge, a joint effort between the North Carolina Bankers Association and 4-H, mixes financial education in the morning with traditional activities, such as horseback riding or swimming, in the afternoon. For $350, kids 10 to 14 years old learn the basics of everyday finance using the FDIC’s Money Smart curriculum.

Robin Diamond

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke with campers from Camp Challenge.

Camp Challenge is also part of the America’s Promise Alliance, a business and nonprofit cooperative that works to reach students at risk of drug abuse or dropping out, for example. The weeklong overnight camp in Westfield, N.C., has drawn the attention of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who have been known to mingle with campers when they’re in the area.

In Denver, the Young Americans Center for Financial Education takes a macroeconomic approach to financial education.

Creating a Ghost Town

In weeklong sessions that cost $185, fourth- and fifth-graders take part in large-scale simulations of the economy of a small town. Campers apply for jobs. They create business plans for 17 different businesses, patronize others along Main Street and even buy health insurance. (It costs two AmeriDollars.) One year, the counselors had a camp of savers, and AmeriTowne turned into a ghost town when the kids refused to spend any money. The incident sparked a fruitful discussion about free enterprise. Counselors asked campers to imagine what would happen to AmeriTowne’s Main Street if no one spent any money in the long term. The grim consequences of an inactive economy soon became apparent, especially when they realized that they, too, were business owners.

Global Economics

The fifth- and sixth-graders take the minitown approach and bump it up a notch to the International Towne. It is like a model United Nations with a robust focus on trade, currencies and deficits. They’re thrown questions about environmental protection and sustainability. When counselors asked campers to write down how they would cope with limited water resources on the planet, they ran out of paper.

“They really run the world at the end of the week,” former banker C.J. Juleff, vice president of programming for the camp, said.

Write to Mary Pilon at mary.pilon@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D1

By JEANNE WHALEN

LONDON—British authorities investigating potential cases of journalists paying bribes for information arrested another round of high-ranking employees of News Corp.‘s tabloid The Sun, and said they are now probing suspected payments not just to police but to other public officials.

The arrests deepen News Corp.’s problems in a high-profile scandal involving illicit reporting tactics. While the scandal began at the company’s now-closed News of the World tabloid, its spread to the Sun threatens to tarnish the biggest-selling newspaper in News Corp.’s stable. With a daily circulation of about 2.7 million, the Sun is the most widely read newspaper in Britain and among the biggest globally.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested eight people early Saturday morning on suspicion of corruption, including a serving police officer, an employee of the Ministry of Defence and a serving member of the armed forces.

Late Saturday, police said the eight arrested individuals had been released without charge on bail, pending further inquiries.

The other five arrested are Sun employees. They include deputy editor Geoff Webster, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, picture editor John Edwards and John Sturgis, a member of the news desk.

The men couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“I’m as shocked as anyone by today’s arrests but am determined to lead the Sun through these difficult times’” said Dominic Mohan, editor of the Sun, in a statement. “I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday’s newspaper.”

The arrests follow an earlier round two weeks ago, when police arrested four current and former Sun employees and a police officer. The men were later released on bail without charge.

News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, is set to arrive in London later this week. According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Murdoch plans to assure the Sun’s staff that he neither plans to close nor sell the paper. This person said plans to launch a Sunday version of the title continue.

In an email Saturday to his staff, Tom Mockridge, chief executive of News International, News Corp.’s U.K. newspaper unit, said: “You should know that I have had a personal assurance today from Rupert Murdoch about his total commitment to continue to own and publish The Sun newspaper.”

He said Mr. Monhan “is committed to leading the paper through this difficult period and, while today’s arrests are shocking, we need to support him and his team to serve the loyal readers of The Sun and produce a great paper for Monday.”

In a sign that News Corp. may view the arrests as excessive, Mr. Mockridge added that he had “today written to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to seek clarification from them about the process of independent oversight of the police investigation.”

The bribery investigation is one of three under way into alleged illegal reporting tactics. The others are focusing on interception of voice-mail messages and emails, also known as phone hacking and computer hacking.

In their statement Saturday, police said the remit of their bribery investigation has widened to include suspected corruption by both police officers and other public officials.

Arrested Saturday were a 39-year-old male police officer for the suburban county of Surrey; a 39-year-old woman working for the Ministry of Defence; and a 36-year-old man in the armed forces, police said.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the arrests. Surrey Police couldn’t immediately be reached to comment.

All of the eight arrested are being questioned at police stations in and around London, and their home addresses are being searched. Police said they are also searching the offices of News International, News Corp.’s U.K. newspaper unit.

Revelations of widespread phone hacking at the News of the World last summer forced News Corp. to close the tabloid and to pay millions of pounds to settle civil lawsuits filed by phone hacking victims.

Even as civil suits are resolved, however, possible criminal cases still loom. U.K. authorities have arrested about 30 people in connection with the probes, including former Sun and News of the World editors and reporters. No one has been charged.

Last summer, News Corp. established what it calls an autonomous committee to liaise with police and provide any documents requested by investigators. The Management and Standards Committee is also conducting its own investigation into News International’s three remaining newspapers—the Sun, the Times of London, and the Sunday Times.

In its statement, News Corp. said the Management and Standards Committee provided police with the information that lead to Saturday’s arrests.

“News Corporation remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated,” the statement said.

The bribery investigation began last year, after a lawyer hired by News Corp. to assist with an internal investigation reviewed emails sent by News of the World employees and said he found “blindingly obvious” evidence of “corrupt payments” to police. The company then passed these emails to police.

In 2003, Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World and the Sun, told a parliamentary committee: “We have paid the police for information in the past.” She later backtracked from the assertion, and, asked about it last summer at another parliamentary hearing, said: “I can say that I have never paid a policeman myself; I have never knowingly sanctioned a payment to a police officer.”

Speaking before a parliamentary committee last summer, Mr. Murdoch said: “Let me be clear in saying: Invading people’s privacy by listening to their voice mail is wrong; paying police officers for information is wrong. They are inconsistent with our codes of conduct and neither has any place in any part of the company that I run.”

The new focus on The Sun, however, is likely to intensify criticism, of News Corp.

In a statement, legislator Tom Watson, a vocal critic of News Corp. who sits on a parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking, said the arrests “show this is no longer only about phone-hacking. It goes to the very heart of corporate governance of the company led by Rupert Murdoch.”

Write to Jeanne Whalen at jeanne.whalen@wsj.com