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Outlet profile

AccuWeather

U.S. commercial, weather-focused (no clear political editorial stance)

Owned byPrivately held by the Myers family; founded by Dr. Joel N. Myers, who serves as executive chair; current CEO is Steven R. Smith (since 2023)
FundingAdvertising on its website and apps, subscription tiers for premium features, licensing of weather data and forecasting services to businesses and governments
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Dr. Joel N. Myers, then a graduate student at Penn State University, who began selling winter weather forecasts to a local Pennsylvania gas utility for $150. The company adopted the AccuWeather name in 1971 and formally incorporated in 1975. Joel's brother Barry Myers joined in 1964 and served as CEO from 2007 until early 2019. Over the decades AccuWeather lobbied to restrict the National Weather Service (NWS) from distributing free public forecasts, arguing that free government data undercut private weather businesses. In 2017, during Trump's first term, Barry Myers was nominated to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the nomination drew sharp criticism because of his lack of scientific credentials, his history of lobbying against the NWS, and a federal investigation that found pervasive sexual harassment at AccuWeather under his leadership. Myers withdrew from consideration in November 2019. In Trump's second term, PBS News reported that Trump appointees with prior lobbying ties to AccuWeather were placed in positions overseeing federal weather policy, raising fresh conflict-of-interest concerns. Project 2025 — the policy blueprint linked to Trump's second-term agenda — named AccuWeather by name as a model for fully privatizing NWS operations; AccuWeather publicly distanced itself from that proposal, stating it did not request or endorse that characterization and did not support full commercialization of the NWS.

Sources

  1. AccuWeather - Wikipedia
  2. Barry Lee Myers - Wikipedia
  3. As Trump slashed weather agency, his appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatizing forecasts | PBS NewsHour
  4. AccuWeather Does Not Support Project 2025 Plan to Fully Commercializing NWS Operations
  5. AccuWeather History | Corporate AccuWeather
  6. Report: Trump's pick to lead NOAA riddled with conflict of interests | Axios

Profile compiled 2026-06-29; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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