DOJ Investigating Five Major News Networks for Alleged Boycott of White House Events

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating several major television networks for an alleged boycott of events at the White House after President Donald Trump banned CNN and other outlets. The investigation is probing ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, as officials with the DOJ have reportedly told those networks to hand over internal communications and documents related to their joint coverage, a Daily Mail article published Sunday read. “The inquiry centers on the White House television pool, a decades-old arrangement under which broadcasters take turns recording presidential events and distributing footage to other news organizations,” the Mail report stated. WATCH — JD Vance Praises Breitbart “Friends”: Many Americans Don’t Feel Represented by Establishment Media: The news came after President Trump in September said he was banning Politico, MS Now, and CNN from the White House for allegedly reporting fake news, according to Breitbart News. NBC News cited a DOJ official in its report on the investigation: “Members of the television press pool have boycotted covering White House events. Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” department spokeswoman Emily Covington said Saturday. According to the Mail, the Sherman Act “prohibits certain agreements between businesses that unlawfully restrain competition,” and the outlet said television networks do compete, but have for years “cooperated through the White House pool to ensure presidential events are recorded and made available to the wider press.” WATCH — Quiet Fake News! Trump Cuts Off CNN Reporter During White House Q&A: Now, officials are trying to determine if that cooperation broke the rules when the networks withdrew their services to protest the ban on CNN. In February 2025, Trump launched a large-scale offensive against media bias as his administration sought to investigate the industry, according to Breitbart News. Americans’ trust in the mass media plummeted in early 2025 to its lowest point in over 50 years, according to a survey, and in February Breitbart News reported just six percent of American adults said they had a “great deal of confidence in journalists to act in the public’s best interests.”