BS BULLETIN

• The Justice Department is investigating ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News over coordinated White House pool coverage actions.
• The networks temporarily suspended participation following restrictions on press access.
• DOJ is examining potential antitrust violations; no violation has been established.
• Fox News is included alongside networks more frequently at odds with Trump.

The Justice Department is investigating whether five of America’s biggest television news organizations violated federal antitrust law when they collectively suspended White House pool coverage following a dispute with President Donald Trump’s administration.

The networks under scrutiny are ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News.

That last name is particularly notable given Fox News’ generally more favorable treatment of the Trump administration compared with its major competitors.

The investigation centers on a decision made last month after the White House barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from its grounds.

In response, the television networks temporarily stopped participating in the pool arrangement used to gather and distribute footage of the president’s activities.

Under that arrangement, competing news organizations take turns recording presidential events and sharing footage with other outlets, reducing the expense and logistical difficulties of having every network operate its own camera crew.

The networks eventually resumed pool coverage after a federal judge ordered the White House to restore access to the excluded news organizations.

But the Justice Department is now examining whether the coordinated suspension crossed a legal line.

DOJ spokesperson Emily Covington said the department was investigating whether the networks’ conduct violated the Sherman Act, the federal law prohibiting certain anticompetitive agreements.

The government’s theory focuses on whether competing commercial organizations coordinated their activities in a manner that unlawfully restricted competition.

The investigation does not establish that any of the networks committed an antitrust violation.

Legal experts interviewed by The Washington Post have questioned whether the government’s case has a sound basis, arguing that a temporary protest over press access is materially different from a commercial boycott intended to suppress competition.

Former Justice Department antitrust official Bill Baer characterized the investigation as retaliatory.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has argued that the networks’ coordinated actions warrant examination under laws that apply to competing businesses.

The underlying dispute over press access remains unresolved, including separate restrictions concerning participation in coverage aboard Air Force One.

The investigation creates an unusual situation in which networks with sharply different editorial identities find themselves facing the same federal inquiry.

And with Fox News included alongside CNN and the broadcast networks, the controversy is not confined to the president’s usual media adversaries.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

• The Washington Post — DOJ investigating five television networks over White House pool coverage
• The Washington Post — Legal experts question the investigation’s antitrust basis
• CBS News — Justice Department investigates television networks over suspension of press pool