Former antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter says the networks' action is not even close to an antitrust violation
Jonathan KanterFormer assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, speaking to CNN
Jonathan Kanter, who led the Justice Department's Antitrust Division under President Biden, told CNN that the networks' action was nowhere near an antitrust violation and that any claim would run into Supreme Court precedent protecting civil rights-era boycotts as speech.
“This is not even in the same zip code of an antitrust violation”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Is DOJ justified in investigating the White House TV press-pool boycott under antitrust law?
On October 10, 2026, the Justice Department confirmed that its Antitrust Division is investigating whether ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC broke antitrust law when the White House television pool they share stopped covering some of President Trump's events in September. After Trump announced on September 18 that he was barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, the other four networks refused to replace CNN when it was removed from the pool rotation, and the pool returned to full coverage on September 25. Department spokesperson Emily Covington said group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act, while former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance argues that the networks were protesting the treatment of journalists rather than restraining trade. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration's antitrust chief, also criticized the inquiry, while commentator Laura Loomer had urged the department in September to examine the networks' action. The dispute is over whether the networks' joint suspension of pool coverage justifies an antitrust investigation.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
CNN report on the Justice Department's investigation of the five pool networks, including comments from Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration's assistant attorney general for antitrust.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
CNN reported that Kanter, the Biden administration's assistant attorney general for antitrust, said any antitrust-violation claims would run into Supreme Court precedent upholding civil rights-era boycotts as protected speech.
After the quotation
He continued: "It's literally freedom of speech." CNN reported that he said the pool's cooperation is itself protected by the First Amendment, and quoted him saying it is "no more an antitrust violation than the reporters coming together to form the pool in the first place".
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the Justice Department is justified in investigating the television networks' White House press-pool boycott under antitrust law. Kanter tells CNN that the networks' action is "not even in the same zip code of an antitrust violation" and that any claim would run into Supreme Court precedent treating civil rights-era boycotts as protected speech. That rejects the legal basis for the investigation, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, since he disputes describing the suspension as an antitrust matter; it loses because he argues that the conduct under investigation is protected speech.
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More from this case
Read the full caseVance disputes the antitrust basis for the inquiry
“But it’s doubtful that the networks’ boycott is the type of restraint on trade that antitrust laws are intended to prevent.”Read statement
Reporters Committee calls the antitrust inquiry an even more brazen attempt to intimidate journalists
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
“The decisions news organizations make about coverage are protected by the First Amendment, and summoning antitrust authority, on top of the retaliatory actions the White House has already taken to bar certain outlets, is another and even more brazen attempt to try to intimidate journalists.”Read statement
Freedom of the Press Foundation calls the antitrust inquiry nonsense
Freedom of the Press Foundation
“What nonsense. Trump may view the presidency as a business venture, but news outlets’ standing up for the First Amendment has nothing to do with antitrust law.”Read statement
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- The Dispute Index
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- Former antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter says the networks' action is not even close to an antitrust violation
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Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Former antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter says the networks' action is not even close to an antitrust violation". First published: 2026-10-11. Last updated: 2026-10-11. https://disputeindex.com/events/5575-jonathan-kanter-who-led-the-justice-department-s