The Justice Department says it is investigating ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC over their decision to pause pooled television coverage of President Donald Trump last month. The networks stopped sharing White House footage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico; coverage resumed after a federal judge ordered the journalists’ access restored. The department says it is examining whether the joint action violated antitrust law. An investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing.
For Latino journalists, this is not an abstract institutional dispute. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has joined press organizations condemning government efforts to punish independent reporting and make access depend on agreement with official viewpoints. Legal experts interviewed by The Washington Post questioned the antitrust theory, arguing that the networks made an editorial decision rather than an economic boycott. The test now is larger than who gets a credential: whether government power can narrow the public’s view of its own work.