The Justice Department said Saturday it is investigating whether five of America's biggest television networks violated federal antitrust law when they jointly stopped covering the White House last month — a move the department says could amount to an illegal group boycott under the Sherman Act.
The networks under investigation are ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News, the five outlets that make up the White House television pool. "Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act," a Justice Department spokesperson, Emily Covington, said Saturday. "The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws."
The probe follows the networks' decision last month to temporarily halt their participation in the White House television press pool after the Trump administration barred journalists from CNN, Politico and MS NOW from entering the White House. Under the longstanding pool arrangement, the networks rotate responsibility for covering presidential appearances, share the costs of gathering footage, and distribute the material to news organizations nationwide. When the White House excluded CNN, the other networks declined to provide replacement coverage — effectively suspending the pool's normal operations for about four days.
The collective decision was meant as solidarity with the excluded outlets, but it is now the central subject of the Justice Department's investigation. The New York Times first reported the probe, citing six people familiar with the matter. Justice Department officials reportedly contacted the networks on Friday to request documents and communications about the pool. The department has also issued civil investigative demands, according to a Justice Department official.
The controversy began on September 19, when the White House revoked the credentials of reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW, blocking them from entering the building. The administration defended the move by saying that covering the president is a "privilege — not a right." The three outlets sued, arguing the exclusions violated the First Amendment and were retaliation for their coverage. On September 24, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the administration to restore their access after finding the restrictions were likely unconstitutional — a reprieve currently in place until Tuesday.
The networks, for their part, said at the time: "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting." The suspension lasted about four days but fell during Chinese President Xi Jinping's White House visit — meaning there was little video coverage of the ceremonies around his trip. The White House has also launched its own YouTube channel to pipe live coverage of events directly to viewers.
The inclusion of Fox News among the networks under investigation is notable, given the network is generally viewed as more sympathetic to Trump than its competitors. Its participation in the collective suspension showed the press-access dispute cut across outlets with very different editorial perspectives.
The existence of the investigation does not establish that any network committed a violation, and no charges or civil enforcement action had been announced as of Saturday. But the inquiry raises a complicated legal question: the networks' decision concerned their newsgathering and their response to government restrictions on press access — not a conventional commercial dispute over prices or customers. Whether a coordinated press-pool walkout counts as an unlawful group boycott under a law written in 1890 is now for the Antitrust Division to determine.