Justice Department Launches Antitrust Probe Into Networks’ TV Pool Halt

The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated an antitrust investigation into whether the suspension of pooled television coverage of President Donald Trump by major networks constituted a violation of federal law. The probe focuses on the White House television press pool, which includes broadcasters CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC.

In a statement released Saturday, the Justice Department confirmed it is examining whether the group’s decision to temporarily halt coverage violated the Sherman Act, a 19th-century federal statute designed to prohibit agreements that unreasonably restrain trade. Legal experts note that the Sherman Act is rarely applied to media organizations, particularly concerning their editorial coverage decisions.

The legal inquiry stems from events on September 21, when the press pool ceased broadcasting pooled video of the president. This action followed Trump’s order barring reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds. At the time, the president posted on Truth Social that the outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.”

Following the suspension, a federal judge ordered the restoration of access to the White House on September 24 on due-process grounds. CNN and MS NOW reported that their reporters were allowed back into the building shortly after the ruling. However, reports indicate that journalists from the three banned outlets remained excluded from traveling on Air Force One with the president, according to The New York Times.

Pool coverage has since resumed, but the administration faces an ongoing lawsuit from the three suspended outlets regarding the initial ban on their press credentials. The Justice Department’s scrutiny marks a significant escalation in the administration’s conflict with the press, part of a broader pattern that includes attempts to defund public broadcasters and litigation against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and BBC News over alleged reporting biases.

Seth Stern, chief advocacy officer for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, dismissed the investigation as legally baseless. “Depriving Trump of the attention he craves is not a competitive harm and in any case, antitrust law has long recognized First Amendment exceptions even when there is anticompetitive impact,” Stern said. He characterized the move as an attempt to pressure networks into returning to the White House.

Members of the press pool did not immediately comment on the investigation. CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.