The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the White House television press corps’ decision last month to end media coverage of U.S. President Donald Trump violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.
A department spokesperson said group boycotts between competing companies could violate U.S. law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating whether these news organizations violated antitrust laws,” they said.
The announcement comes after the five-channel group stopped its presidential coverage last month after the administration barred CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House.
Messages were sent Saturday evening to five media outlets seeking comment: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC.
The White House press pool, which is a rotating group of media outlets that cover the president, has become a proxy in the broader fight over whether the president, or anyone else, can control the content of reporting — a kind of free speech, pillar of American democracy.
The developments of the past month marked an extraordinary escalation in Trump’s efforts to restrict journalists and media outlets he considers insufficiently supportive.
On September 19, the White House blocked journalists from CNN, Politico and MS Now from entering the building, revoking their credentials. The White House said covering the president was a “privilege – not a right.”
CNN, MS Now and Politico filed lawsuits following the multi-day ban. This measure was lifted after a judge granted a stay to the three news outlets, which is in effect until Tuesday.
Television coverage from the White House has also resumed. The pool’s broadcasters share the costs of covering the president, taking turns arranging the coverage and sharing the footage with media outlets across the country.
José Zamora, regional director of the Committee to Protect Journalists for the Americas, criticized the administration’s decision to investigate on Saturday.
“The government should not use antitrust investigations to intimidate news outlets that defend access to the press,” Zamora said on X. “The public’s right to information depends on that access.”
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