The U.S. Justice Department is investigating several major television networks over whether they may have violated federal antitrust laws when they temporarily suspended pooled coverage of President Donald Trump.
The networks under scrutiny include ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News.
According to the Justice Department, the Antitrust Division has asked the companies to turn over communications related to the White House television pool.
The pool system allows networks to rotate coverage responsibilities and share footage of the president with other news organizations.
That system was temporarily suspended for several days last month after the White House blocked CNN, MS Now and Politico from access.
The decision affected live television coverage of Trump events and triggered a broader fight over press access.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the investigation is focused on whether the networks acted together in a way that could violate the Sherman Act.
“Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” the spokesperson said.
The department emphasized that it is still examining the facts.
“The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organisations have violated the antitrust laws,” the spokesperson added.
The dispute began after Trump barred CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House.
Trump accused the organizations of publishing “fiction or lies” about his administration.
The three outlets later sued the administration, arguing that the restrictions violated their First Amendment rights.
A judge subsequently ruled in their favor, and the White House restored their access.
The First Amendment prohibits the government from abridging freedom of the press and has long been interpreted by courts as limiting the government’s ability to discriminate against news organizations based on the content of their coverage.
The latest Justice Department investigation adds another layer to the escalating conflict between the Trump administration and major media companies.
The administration has taken several legal actions involving news organizations during Trump’s second term.
In February, the White House announced that it would take control of the presidential press pool.
For more than a century, that system had been managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
The change gave the administration more direct authority over which outlets could participate in the group that follows and reports on the president’s movements.
That same month, the administration also moved to restrict Associated Press reporters and photographers from certain limited-access areas.
Those areas included spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One, per the BBC.
The dispute centered on the AP’s continued use of the name “Gulf of Mexico” instead of the Trump administration’s preferred “Gulf of America.”
The Associated Press responded by filing a lawsuit.
That case remains ongoing.
The current investigation involving the television networks is different because it is being handled as an antitrust matter.
The central question is whether competing media companies unlawfully coordinated when they suspended the White House pool.
The Justice Department has not accused any of the networks of breaking the law.
Instead, it is seeking communications to determine whether their actions amounted to an illegal group boycott.
The controversy highlights the unusual intersection of media access, competition law and the administration’s ongoing battles with major news organizations.
For now, the investigation remains open.
Whether the Justice Department ultimately brings any enforcement action against ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC or Fox News will depend on what investigators find in the networks’ communications and how they interpret the temporary suspension of pooled coverage.
