The Justice Department is turning its attention to the biggest names in television news. On Saturday night, the department confirmed it is investigating ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News for possible violations of federal antitrust law.
The probe centers on the White House television pool, the group of five networks that has shared coverage of presidential events for decades. According to reports, the Antitrust Division contacted the networks on Friday and asked for communications and other materials related to the pool.
A department spokesperson laid out the legal theory in plain terms. “Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” the spokesperson said, adding that the Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether the law was broken.
The roots of the story go back to September 18, when President Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House complex, complaining about their coverage of him. The three outlets sued, arguing the ban violates their constitutional right to free speech.
In response, the television pool briefly suspended its coverage of White House events in late September. Rather than set up a replacement pool, the networks stood together with CNN, a decision described in an email by Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who was the pool chair at the time.
A federal judge later halted the ban on the three outlets, and that separate case is still working its way through court. The networks have since resumed their pool coverage, though CNN and Politico have been blocked from boarding Air Force One and traveling with the president.
The detail that has caught the most attention is who is under investigation. Fox News, the network most popular with conservative viewers, is among the five, a sign that the department is looking at the conduct of the pool and not the politics of its members.
Supporters of the inquiry say the principle is simple. Competing businesses are not supposed to coordinate to withhold their product, and five rival news operations agreeing to stop covering the president in unison looks to them like exactly the type of conduct antitrust law was written to examine.
They also point out that the pool is a privilege, not an entitlement. The networks receive special access to the most important events in the country, and many conservatives believe the public deserves coverage that is not held hostage to a group decision.
There is a long record behind the distrust. Conservatives have complained for years that the major networks act as a bloc, sharing the same framing, the same talking points and the same instincts, and some see this episode as proof that the bloc is real.
Critics of the investigation strongly disagree. Jonathan Kanter, who led the Antitrust Division under President Biden, told CNN that the claim is “not even in the same zip code of an antitrust violation,” noting that Supreme Court precedent has protected boycotts as speech.
Press freedom groups echoed that concern. The Committee to Protect Journalists said antitrust tools should not be used to intimidate news organizations, and the Washington Post called the move a sharp escalation in the administration’s fight with the press.
The networks have been careful with their words. NBC, CBS and CNN declined to comment, Fox News did not respond to requests, and ABC News reportedly had not received formal notice yet but expected to.
The department itself has been equally careful. In its statement, it said the decisions news organizations make about coverage are protected by the First Amendment, a line that the critics argue does not square with launching an antitrust probe in the first place.
No charges have been announced, and the department has not said where the inquiry might lead. At this stage, the investigation is about gathering documents and understanding how the pool made its decisions.
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