The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the five television networks that traditionally share coverage of the White House, examining whether their brief boycott of President Donald Trump's events violated competition law. The networks are ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News. On Friday, investigators contacted the broadcasters and demanded documents related to the arrangement known as the TV pool, according to reports citing the New York Times.

The pool is a rotation system in which one network at a time films presidential events on behalf of all the others, saving space and cost. Its footage is also used by many smaller stations that cannot send their own crews to Washington. In September, the pool networks stopped producing footage for several days in solidarity with CNN. The administration had barred CNN, the outlet Politico and the channel MS NOW from the White House after Trump objected to their critical coverage, which he called "fake news" and disinformation. As a result, far less footage than usual was available from events such as the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, which Trump described on his Truth Social platform as one of the biggest and most beautiful events in years.

Justice Department spokesperson Emily Covington said the networks had boycotted coverage of White House events and that a boycott among commercial competitors could violate the Sherman Act, a core US antitrust law. The investigation is reportedly at an early stage, and it is unclear whether it will lead to charges. Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is well connected to the administration, had called for such a probe.

Press freedom advocates see a pretext. Bruce D. Brown of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called it a new attempt at intimidation, saying the inquiry appears designed to obtain information about how outlets covered the White House during the president's own media ban. He argued that editorial decisions by news organisations are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees press freedom. William Kovacic, a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, the main US competition regulator, gave the case little chance of success. He said that successful antitrust cases require proof of a dominant commercial motive, which he does not expect investigators to establish here.

The dispute has not fully ended. After the outlets went to court arguing that their First Amendment rights were violated, a federal judge ordered access restored, and the pool resumed its normal rotation. But the White House still denies CNN journalists access to Air Force One. On days when CNN is due to cover the president on the plane or outside Washington, the pool therefore produces no footage, and the other four networks, including conservative-leaning Fox News, refuse to fill in. For one trip, the White House instead turned to two smaller right-leaning outlets, Lindell TV and Real America's Voice.

The case matters because it tests whether competition law can be used against news organisations over editorial and access decisions, at a time when relations between the administration and established media remain deeply strained.