U.S. Department of Justice investigates five broadcasting companies that refused to jointly cover Trump

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jae-woo = The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether five major broadcasting companies that temporarily suspended joint coverage of the White House in protest against President Donald Trump's restrictions on news media coverage may have violated antitrust laws.

According to American media such as the Associated Press and the New York Times (NYT) on the 10th (local time), the Justice Department announced that it is investigating whether the refusal of five broadcasting stations, including ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, to jointly cover the White House violated federal antitrust laws.

The Justice Department sent letters to these broadcasting companies on the 9th, requesting that they submit communication data exchanged between broadcasting company officials related to joint reporting operations and CNN's restriction of access to the White House.

A Justice Department spokesperson said, "A collective boycott among commercial competitors may violate the Sherman Act (antitrust law)," and added, "We are only investigating these media outlets to determine whether they have violated antitrust laws."

This investigation was triggered on the 19th of last month when the White House revoked the passes of reporters from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW.

President Trump accused these media companies of intentionally writing negative articles, and the White House argued that covering the president was a “privilege, not a right.”

Accordingly, the five broadcasters that make up the White House TV joint coverage team, including ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, protested against the measure and suspended joint coverage for several days.

The White House TV joint reporting team operates in a way that broadcasters share the cost of covering the president and take turns covering the news, sharing the footage they film with other media outlets.

Due to the suspension of their joint coverage, videos of major events, such as the scene of President Trump greeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, were not broadcast by major broadcasters.

Media outlets that were banned filed a lawsuit, claiming that the White House's actions violated the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press.

When the court ordered the restoration of access rights citing the possibility of unconstitutionality, the White House restored reporters' passes on the 24th of last month, and other broadcasters resumed joint reporting the following day.

However, the White House continues to block CNN from providing joint coverage when President Trump travels on Air Force One. Accordingly, the NYT reported that on the day CNN's joint reporting turn returned, there was still no coverage.

The NYT evaluated this investigation as an example of the conflict between the Trump administration and the media expanding beyond the issue of reporting restrictions to legal pressure using antitrust laws.

Some point out that the suspension of joint coverage by broadcasting stations does not constitute a violation of anti-monopoly law.

Former U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman William Kovacic predicted that it would be difficult to prove illegality in this case, saying that if the main purpose of a group boycott was to express political opinions rather than pursue commercial interests, it may not constitute a violation of antitrust law.