DOJ Opens Antitrust Probe of Five Networks Over White House Pool Pause
The inquiry has sought documents from ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC to assess whether their coordinated suspension ran afoul of the Sherman Act and could affect a parallel courtroom fight over access.
Overview
- The five long-standing networks halted their shared White House “pool” coverage for several days in solidarity after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds.
- The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division confirmed it is investigating whether that coordinated pause amounted to an illegal group boycott under the Sherman Act and has sent document demands to the networks through their lawyers.
- A federal judge temporarily enjoined the White House ban on the three outlets earlier in the dispute, and the Justice Department is still defending the administration’s access policy in ongoing litigation.
- Press-rights and civil-liberties groups called the antitrust probe retaliatory and warned it could chill routine newsroom cooperation that the pool provides for covering presidential travel and events.
- The television pool is a decades-old arrangement in which one network team records presidential appearances and shares footage with others, a setup the DOJ review could reshape if it leads to enforcement or new limits on joint media practices.