WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice is conducting an antitrust investigation into a group of television networks after they suspended their White House press pool coverage in solidarity with CNN following President Donald Trump's decision to ban the news organization, and two other media outlets, from the White House.
“Members of the television press pool have proudly boycotted covering White House events," the Department of Justice said in a statement. "Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division is investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.”
The investigation marks another major development in the Trump administration's clash with the White
House press corps. The five networks that make up the television press pool - which distributes broadcast feeds of White House events to other outlets - are ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News and CNN.
The television pool announced the decision to suspend coverage on Sept. 21, with the pool's chair saying in an email that it followed "the White House's position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties." The television networks have since resumed pool coverage.
Trump said Sept. 18that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House complex, complaining about their coverage of him. The media outlets sued, arguing the ban violates their constitutional rights to speak freely.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the media ban in a Sept. 24 ruling. The judge issued a restraining order requiring the White House to reinstate the outlets press passes for two weeks. A final decision in the case is still pending.
The New York Times reported that ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News are all under investigation by the Justice Department over whether they violated antitrust laws. The networks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The five networks that make up the television pool share the costs of covering the president, take turns organizing coverage and share the footage with outlets around the country.
On the same day the television pool suspended White House coverage, outlets with still photographers in the White House pool ‒ including Reuters, Getty Images, The New York Times and the Washington Post ‒ agreed not to publish or distribute any photos taken Sept. 21 until midnight the next day.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, BrieAnna J. Frank, Aysha Bagchi, Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ launches antitrust probe of TV networks over Trump pool coverage
