The United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News, the country's five major television networks. The reason is that they suspended their participation in pooled White House coverage for several days in solidarity with media outlets barred by President Donald Trump.
According to T13 and La Tercera, Department of Justice officials contacted the networks on Friday, October 9. They demanded communications and materials related to the White House television "pool." The information was first reported by The New York Times, which cited six people familiar with the move.
The pool is a system in which a small group of journalists records the president's activities in spaces where access is restricted for security or capacity reasons. That material is then distributed to other media outlets. Without those shared images, government news receives less television coverage.
The controversy began on September 18, when Trump barred journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entering the White House. The president accused them of spreading "fake news" and "fiction and lies." In response, the five networks left the pool, and during those days shared television coverage was limited to material produced by the White House itself.
The three barred outlets went to court, arguing that the ban violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of the press and freedom of expression. A federal judge temporarily suspended the ban, and the journalists regained their credentials. The networks returned to the pool, although according to La Tercera, the sanctioned outlets remained excluded from the rotation.
Department of Justice spokesperson Emily Covington said the networks had "boycotted coverage of White House events." She added that "group boycotts among business competitors may violate the Sherman Act, " the United States' main antitrust law, in force since the late nineteenth century. "The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these media outlets have violated the laws," she said.
Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a U.S. organization that defends journalists, described the investigation as "a pretext for requesting records from the networks" about their coverage during a ban imposed by the president himself. "Invoking antitrust authority (...) is another, even more brazen attempt to intimidate journalists," he said.
The case adds to a long series of attacks by Trump against the critical press, which he has repeatedly called the "enemy of the people." The new element is the instrument: using a competition law to review coordinated editorial decisions among media outlets. For Latin America, including Chile, where there are also debates about the relationship between governments and the press, the Washington precedent carries considerable symbolic weight.
The legal proceedings remain open. On Thursday, October 8, CNN, MS NOW and Politico appeared before a Washington court to request an extension of the court protection that allows them to enter the White House. The sources have yet to report a timeline for a ruling or for the conclusion of the antitrust investigation.
