Justice Department investigating television networks over Trump pool coverage

The row over the White House pool affected live TV coverage of Trump events last month

The US justice department (DoJ) has said it is investigating several television networks over whether they broke federal competition laws when they recently suspended pool coverage of President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department asked ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News to hand over communications related to the pool and said that the boycott could violate the Sherman Act, referring to a law that bars companies from engaging in monopolistic business practices.

A DoJ spokesperson said: "The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these ​news organisations have violated the antitrust laws."

Trump blocked CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House last month after accusing the organisations of writing "fiction or lies" about his team.

The First Amendment forbids the government from "abridging" the freedom of the press - language that courts have traditionally interpreted as preventing the government from discriminating against the media based on the content of their coverage.

In February, the White House announced it was taking control of the press pool which has access to Trump and had for more than a century been managed by the White House Correspondents' Association.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico file lawsuit against Trump's White House banPublished22 September

Major US outlets suspend shared Trump coverage in protest at media banPublished22 September

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