The Justice Department’s decision to investigate the five TV networks that make up the White House television pool for potentially violating antitrust laws has thrust the decades-old press pool system into the spotlight.

The investigation comes after Trump last month barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds. The TV pool members responded by declining pool coverage for four days initially, and then on two subsequent occasions when CNN was blocked from performing its pool duties. That meant there was limited video coverage of Trump for six days, including his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

While the Justice Department investigates, the three news outlets CNN, MS NOW and Politico are challenging the Trump policy in federal court, in a case with implications for the longstanding system that journalists in the U.S. and around the world rely on to report on the presidency.

What is the press pool?

The White House press pool is a group of media outlets that share video, editorial information and costs for coverage of high-profile officials and events involving the president anywhere in the world. Under the system, the day’s designated “poolers” represent the wider press corps to document newsworthy events and serve as a conduit between the president and the public.

The arrangement allows the pool to distribute video and information to its members in situations where space is limited, such as events in the Oval Office or Cabinet meetings.

The White House press corps has separate print, radio, still photography and TV pools. Press pools cover high-profile administration officials, government departments and government events.

The TV press pool declined to provide video and editorial coverage of Trump before a federal judge temporarily blocked the ban while a lawsuit filed by the three affected outlets proceeds. The TV pool also declined to provide coverage on subsequent days when the White House barred CNN from Air Force One, preventing the network from carrying out its scheduled pool duties.

But TV poolers have continued to cover other administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who did not join in the ban on specific news outlets.

How does it work?

Poolers track the president, giving the public insight into his events, speeches and even his health. For example, video shot by the TV pool captured the moment Trump was shot at a 2024 rally; later, footage of his bruised hand sparked questions about his health.

A press pool typically travels alongside the president anytime he leaves the White House, including when he’s vacationing or dining out. Before the age of social media, the president’s proximity to the press pool was one of the only ways to immediately deliver a message to Americans, such as during a sudden national crisis.

Poolers have reported on scheduled and spontaneous major stories that shaped the course of history. Former WHCA President Steven Portnoy wrote that poolers were in the motorcade when President John F. Kennedy was shot. They witnessed the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, and they covered President George W. Bush during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Who is part of the TV pool?

The network television pool consists of the five major networks: NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox. The networks take turns sending a journalist and camera crew to both scheduled and spontaneous administration coverage.

The designated pooler distributes editorial content and video feeds widely to the other networks and pool subscribers, which can include outlets that may not have the resources to shoot and distribute coverage themselves. Pool subscribers include outlets like Newsmax, One America News Network, NewsNation and C-SPAN.

International outlets can also subscribe to the pool, allowing them to use network-shot video and editorial guidance in their coverage around the world. When world leaders visit, as Xi did this week, the pool includes a slot for foreign media. Print, radio and still images are represented by their own separate pools.

How did the pool system begin?

The pool system has been in place for decades across both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Reporters used a pool system to cover the presidency as early as the World War II era, when poolers traveled with Franklin D. Roosevelt, according to the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Who controls the TV pool’s content?

The journalists who comprise the pool determine the content of the coverage. The White House can shoot and distribute its own video, but the pool system provides content independent of the administration in power.

The five networks that comprise the TV pool make daily coverage decisions about which network is covering an event for the pool and how it is being covered. The networks are regularly in contact with each other to coordinate pool coverage.

The Trump administration also created a “secondary TV pool” position. However, while the position allows an outlet invited by the White House to participate in coverage where space is limited, the “secondary” pooler only reports for their outlet, not the wider pool of journalists. They do not distribute video or editorial content to pool subscribers.

Has the White House banned specific media outlets before?

This appears to be the first time a president has moved to ban three major media outlets from White House grounds.

While the White House Correspondents’ Association traditionally determined which outlets would be allowed to serve in the print pool, television networks have overseen the TV pool. The Trump administration, though, has at times moved to block outlets.

For example, the administration moved to block The Associated Press from accessing the Oval Office and Air Force One last year after it refused to change its style for the Gulf of Mexico after Trump renamed it the “Gulf of America;” the AP’s legal challenge to the ban is ongoing. Separately, the administration removed The Wall Street Journal from the pool of media outlets traveling to Scotland with Trump in 2025 in response to the newspaper’s report about an alleged birthday card the president sent Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump temporarily withdrew credentials from then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta after a contentious interaction at a press conference — but did not move to limit CNN’s access as a news outlet. A judge temporarily ordered the administration to restore Acosta’s credentials, and days later, the administration permanently restored his pass.

And while the president is expected to always travel with pool reporters, Trump evaded the pool when he took a secret flight out of Turkey this summer. The president entered Air Force One, where the pool and other journalists were waiting. The president, though, slipped onto another plane via a catering truck amid security concerns related to the war in Iran.