The Justice Department is investigating whether major TV networks violated federal antitrust laws when they briefly suspended a rotation of broadcast journalists covering the White House last month following CNN’s removal from a planned assignment.
Networks learned of the probe Friday, with Justice Department officials seeking records of communication among them regarding the pool, people familiar with the matter said.
Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News are part of a group of reporters, videographers, photographers and technicians who cover President Trump when he travels or when events take place in spaces that are too small for the entire press corps.
When CNN was taken out of the rotation for Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September—days after Trump banned the network, MS NOW and Politico from the White House—the TV pool briefly halted some coverage of the president.
“Members of the television press pool have boycotted covering White House events. Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington said in a statement. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department’s investigation further escalates tensions between the Trump administration and the media. Trump said in July that ABC and NBC should lose their broadcast licenses for not carrying his speech on alleged election fraud on their networks. He has also called unfavorable coverage treasonous, and his administration has subpoenaed journalists and limited access to government spaces.
CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, which aren’t TV pool members, filed a lawsuit challenging the September ban and a federal judge has temporarily ordered the White House to reinstate their access. The judge is expected to rule in coming days on an injunction pausing the ban while litigation proceeds.
CNN and Politico have both been pulled from the White House’s travel pool schedule—assignments for which they would have needed to board Air Force One—since the judge ordered the White House ban to be temporarily lifted.
The New York Times earlier reported the investigation.
Fox News parent Fox Corp. and The Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com and Dave Michaels at dave.michaels@wsj.com
