Reporters Committee statement on reported DOJ investigation of White House press pool

On Saturday, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether major television networks violated federal antitrust laws by suspending pool coverage of the president in response to the recent White House ban on three news outlets. 

According to The Times, the Justice Department contacted ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News on Friday and demanded communications and materials related to the White House TV pool.

Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown made the following statement:

“The reported investigation appears to be a pretext for seeking records from the networks about how they are covering daily White House events during a media ban the president himself put in place. The decisions news organizations make about coverage are protected by the First Amendment, and summoning antitrust authority, on top of the retaliatory actions the White House has already taken to bar certain outlets, is another and even more brazen attempt to try to intimidate journalists.”