The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into whether the White House television press corps’ decision to suspend coverage of President Donald Trump violated antitrust laws.
The Justice Department said in a statement that it is investigating whether the White House television press corps, a group of broadcasters that includes CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS and NBC, violated the Sherman Act by temporarily suspending joint television coverage of Mr. Trump.
The Sherman Act is a federal law that prohibits certain agreements that unreasonably restrict trade. Introduced in the 1890s, this law rarely applies to media organizations, especially when it comes to reporting.
Members of the press corps did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment sent outside normal business hours.
The Justice Department investigation comes after the White House television press corps ceased reporting on President Trump on September 21, shortly after the president banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from accessing the White House.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said these news organizations “should not be able to consistently write and report fiction and lies when reporting on the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”
A judge lifted the restrictions on those reporters on September 24, just days after White House officials confiscated their press passes. Despite the ruling, CNN and Politico reporters were barred from traveling with the president on Air Force One, the New York Times reported.
The Trump administration is currently facing a lawsuit from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico for barring reporters from the White House grounds.
White House television coverage has also resumed.
The Justice Department investigation marks an escalation in the ongoing dispute between President Trump and the media over media rights.
The Trump administration has moved to restrict news agencies that have published coverage critical of its policies.
Last year, President Trump moved to cancel about $1.1 billion previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, federal funds earmarked for public broadcasters NPR and PBS. President Trump and his allies have also sued multiple media organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and BBC News, alleging bias and inaccuracies in their reporting.
Seth Stern, advocacy director for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, called the Justice Department’s investigation “nonsense.”
“Depriving President Trump of the attention he so desires is not a competitive harm, and in any case antitrust laws have long allowed First Amendment exceptions even when there are anticompetitive effects,” he said. “After using so much ‘fake news’ rhetoric, Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department to pressure a network he calls the ‘enemy of the people’ to stay in the White House. It’s a strange way to tell the press how much he misses him.”
The White House Correspondents Association did not respond to a request for comment.
Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.
