Justice Department probes five networks over White House pool halt

• The Justice Department says it is investigating ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC over the pause.
• The inquiry is focused on whether the networks’ actions could amount to an illegal group boycott under US antitrust law.
• NBC News reports that the department sent civil investigative demands on Friday, 9 October.
• The pause followed the White House barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from its grounds.

The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the five broadcasters’ decision to stop providing shared television coverage of President Donald Trump in September. Spokeswoman Emily Covington said the department was examining whether the networks had violated antitrust law; she did not say they had done so.¹

The pause began on 21 September, after the White House barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico. With CNN unable to carry out its turn filming presidential events, pool chair Bryan Boughton of Fox News told subscribers that the television pool would stop covering designated events. The networks said they objected to restricting an outlet because of its reporting.²

The pool is a rotating arrangement: one network records presidential appearances and shares the footage with other outlets. Its suspension left gaps in independent video of some events, including President Trump’s airport greeting for China’s President Xi Jinping. The White House restored the three outlets’ access under a temporary court order, and pool coverage resumed.³

The department has pointed to the Sherman Act, the US law that prohibits certain restraints on trade. Covington said group boycotts by commercial competitors can break the law. NBC News reported that civil investigative demands—formal requests for information—were sent to the networks on 9 October, citing a Justice Department official.⁴

The demands have not been made public, and reporting leaves their delivery status unresolved. NBC said the demands went out; ABC said it had not received notification but expected to. The Washington Post reported that another network had been notified. The available reports do not establish which networks received demands or exactly what the department is seeking.⁵

The inquiry is not a charge or a finding of wrongdoing. Legal experts interviewed by The Washington Post questioned whether a temporary act of solidarity over press access fits an antitrust case, which they said typically concerns harm to competition. That is their assessment, not a court ruling or an account of evidence the department has not disclosed.⁶

The investigation runs alongside a separate lawsuit by CNN, MS NOW and Politico challenging their exclusion from the White House. A federal judge’s temporary order restoring access was due for further consideration on Tuesday, 13 October.⁷

Footnotes

1. Associated Press, “Justice Department probes White House press pool’s Trump coverage halt” ↩

2. The Guardian, “US TV networks suspend White House pool coverage over Trump media ban” ↩

3. The Washington Post, “Justice probe into TV networks rests on thin legal grounds, lawyers say” ↩

4. NBC News, “Justice Department investigating major TV networks over suspending pool coverage of Trump” ↩

5. NBC News, “Justice Department investigating major TV networks over suspending pool coverage of Trump”; The Washington Post, “Justice probe into TV networks rests on thin legal grounds, lawyers say” ↩

6. The Washington Post, “Justice probe into TV networks rests on thin legal grounds, lawyers say” ↩

7. Associated Press, “Media attorneys ask court for help in preventing White House ban until legal case is resolved” ↩