Outlet profile

Tampa Free Press

U.S. right (Florida-focused, conservative-leaning)

Owned byOwned and published by Brian Burns, a former publisher of The Tampa Tribune and The Ledger (Lakeland); privately held.

FundingMainly advertising, plus reader donations, according to Media Bias/Fact Check. I found no public disclosure of other backers.

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Tampa Free Press launched in 2020 as a digital local news outlet covering the Tampa Bay area and Florida politics. Brian Burns founded and owns it. He was publisher of The Tampa Tribune from 2013 until the Tampa Bay Times bought it in 2016, then led Gannett's The Ledger in Lakeland until late 2019. Media Bias/Fact Check rates the outlet Right for editorial positions that consistently favor a conservative view. It gives the outlet a Mixed factual-reporting rating, citing a failed fact check and some false or misleading items. Its site mixes local news, weather, crime and business with heavy coverage of state politics, including the 2026 Republican governor's primary, where it has reported on Trump's endorsement of Byron Donalds and DeSantis's role. It also gave prominent play to DeSantis's claim that a leaked Hope Florida report was a 'hoax'. Because I could only see a limited sample of recent articles, the administration-stance label is provisional. The outlet's perspective is best described as Florida-GOP-friendly, not a national Trump-aligned or Trump-opposed outlet.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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