U.S. DOJ Will Probe TV Networks Over President Trump’s Pool Coverage

The U.S. Department of Justice has told five of the nation’s biggest TV-news outlets that it plans to investigate whether a recent decision to suspend pool coverage of President Trump after he denied White House access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico violated antitrust rules, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Members of the television press pool have proudly boycotted covering White House events. Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” a Justice Department spokesperson told the New York Times in a statement published Saturday evening. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.”

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The Justice Department informed several of the networks of its probe on Friday, according to these people.

The Department of Justice did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment. CNN, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News and Fox News declined to comment or did not respond immediately to a query seeking a response.

Whether the DOJ has legal standing may be in doubt — the networks have coordinated pool coverage for decades without any legal challenge to their process — the action will likely only intensify a battle between the White House and the media. MS NOW, CNN and Politico sued President Donald Trump and other administration official in late September over a decision by Trump to ban the three news organizations from newsgathering at the White House.

The TV networks in response briefly suspended pool coverage in protest and to weigh against a decision that threated First Amendment rights. Even so, their coverage of the White House and President Trump continued.

Pool coverage of U.S. government institutions such as the White House, State Department and the Pentagon involves more news organizations than the TV networks. Wire services, newspapers, magazine and niche publications also take part. The coordination ensures the news outlets have equal access to video and pictures of events and proceedings relevant to American citizens, as well as transcripts. In short, pool coverage underscores efforts to create a public record of government actions, even if every news group can’t be accommodated in a particular physical space.

The Constitution “protects the liberty and property interests that news organizations and White House reporters have in their press credentials and the access those credentials afford them to cover the White House for the benefit of the public,” MS NOW, CNN and Politico alleged in their legal filing. “No official can deprive Plaintiffs of those interests on a whim — with no notice, no process, and no warning — as the President did here.”

A federal judge has issued a temporary block on Trump’s ban, but the matter is still enmeshed in the courts.

NBC News recently took over coordination of White House pool coverage from Fox News, as part of a rotation that changes every three months, according to two people familiar with the matter.