AccuWeather
U.S. commercial/apolitical (business-aligned on deregulation)
Background
AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, then a Penn State meteorology graduate student, and grew into one of the largest commercial weather forecasting and media companies in the world, based in State College, Pennsylvania. It remains privately owned by the Myers family, with Joel Myers as founder and executeive chairman; his brother Barry Lee Myers served for years as CEO before stepping down. The company has long lobbied Washington on issues affecting its commercial interests, most notably opposing efforts to let the National Weather Service issue forecasts and warnings directly to the public for free, arguing this competed unfairly with private forecasters like itself. This came to a head in 2017 when Trump nominated Barry Myers to head NOAA, a pick that drew scrutiny over conflicts of interest and stalled for two years before he withdrew in 2019, partly citing health reasons and following revelations of a sexual harassment investigation at AccuWeather. More recently, AccuWeather has publicly pushed back against Project 2025-style proposals to privatize NOAA and gut the National Weather Service, arguing that a strong public forecasting and warning system is still necessary. Its day-to-day output — forecasts, severe-weather alerts, and weather-related news — is generally treated as consumer-service content rather than partisan journalism, though it operates its own cable/streaming network and website with expanded lifestyle and climate coverage.
Sources
- AccuWeather - Wikipedia
- Barry Lee Myers - Wikipedia
- Trump's Pick to Lead Weather Agency Spent 30 Years Fighting It - Bloomberg
- Privatizing weather forecasts could benefit Trump appointees with NWS downsized - NBC New York
- Should weather forecasts be privatized? - Morning Brew
Profile compiled 2026-09-27; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.