The Justice Department is investigating whether ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News violated federal antitrust laws when the group briefly suspended their pooled coverage of President Trump, according to The New York Times.
Freedom of the Press Foundation Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern issued the following statement:
“The investigation is nonsense. Trump may view the presidency as a business venture, but news outlets’ standing up for their constitutional rights has nothing to do with antitrust law, no matter what Laura Loomer says.
“Depriving Trump of the attention he craves is not a competitive harm and in any case, antitrust law has long recognized First Amendment exceptions even when there is anticompetitive impact.
“Even more bizarre than the administration’s legal theory is that after all his ‘fake news’ rhetoric, Trump is weaponizing the DOJ to pressure the networks he calls the ‘enemy of the people’ to stay at the White House. It’s a weird way of telling the press how much he missed them.”