DOJ probes five US TV networks over boycott of White House pool coverage

The striking element is the framing: a joint editorial decision to withhold pooled coverage is being treated as a possible antitrust violation rather than a press-freedom dispute. That matters because the pool is the mechanism that lets all five networks cover the president at all, and turning it into a competition-law question could chill collective action by newsrooms generally. Watch whether the antitrust division's theory survives scrutiny, and whether the networks keep the arrangement in place while the probe proceeds.