The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the White House television press pool's decision to halt coverage of President Donald Trump last month violated antitrust law, according to a department spokesperson.
Emily Covington, a DOJ spokesperson, said group boycotts among business competitors might violate U.S. law. 'The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,' she said.
The inquiry follows a dispute in which the television pool of five broadcasters stopped presidential coverage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Messages were sent late Saturday to ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC seeking comment.
The White House press pool is a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president. It has become a proxy for the wider fight over whether the president, or anyone, can control the content of news reports.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued over the days-long ban. A judge later granted the three news organizations a reprieve that remains in place until Tuesday. Television pool coverage of the White House has also resumed.
Jose Zamora, the Committee to Protect Journalists' regional director of the Americas, criticized the administration's decision to investigate. 'The government should not use antitrust investigations to intimidate news outlets defending press access,' he said on X. 'The public's right to know depends on that access.'
The market has already voted on the broader principle at stake here: access matters, and government leverage over who gets to cover the president is not a small procedural issue. When the White House restricts outlets it dislikes, it invites a fight over press freedom that quickly spills into court.
Capital rewards clear rules, and so does the public. If antitrust law is being used as a weapon in a media conflict, the burden is on Washington to show it is enforcing competition rules, not expanding the reach of the administrative state into speech and press access.
