Inweekly

About Inweekly

Inweekly is the alternative weekly newspaper of Pensacola, Florida, serving the governed — not the governors — of Northwest Florida since its first issue on July 1, 1999. Owned by Inweekly Media and published by Rick Outzen, who owns 90 percent of the paper, it has built a national reputation for investigative reporting that has taken on county commissioners, exposed jail deaths and police misconduct, and challenged the powerful across the Gulf Coast. With a weekly circulation of 24,200 distributed at more than 300 sites across Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Pace and Navarre, it is the little paper with a huge voice — profiled in the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Daily Beast. Its website is inweekly.net.

First issue: July 1, 1999

Inweekly published its first issue on July 1, 1999, to serve the governed, not the governors, by reporting the news that matters most to the Pensacola community. The cover story examined whether county commissioners should outlaw beer on the beach on Santa Rosa Island — a characteristically local, characteristically irreverent debut. Since then, the paper has produced well over a thousand editions — 1,129 by its 22nd anniversary in 2021 — under various mastheads: the Pensacola Independent, Independent Florida Sun, Independent Sun, Pensacola Inweekly and now simply Inweekly. What began as a jumbled mess of columns and features grew into an award-winning staple of the community.

Ownership and independence

The Independent News is owned by Inweekly Media. Publisher Rick Outzen owns 90 percent of the paper; the remaining 10 percent is held by J. Collier Merrill, Ray Russenberger and Charles Emling III, none owning more than five percent. Outzen has complete control over the editorial and operations of the newspaper and its websites. The masthead lists Joani Delezen as editor and creative director, with a staff of writers and a graphic designer working from a Pensacola P.O. box — a lean operation with an outsized footprint.

Investigative reporting with national impact

It is Inweekly's news coverage that set it apart. The paper's investigations have garnered awards and the attention of major news networks nationally and internationally. Its landmark stories include "Crazy Like a Fox, Or Just Crazy" (August 31, 2001), which questioned the backroom dealings of Escambia County Commission Chairman W.D. Childers after the daily paper had praised his leadership — eight months later, Childers and three fellow commissioners were indicted and removed from office. "Hate and Murder in Dixie" (August 20, 2004) interviewed the brother of Scotty Weaver, a gay teenager murdered in a hate crime, while the reporter was mocked and followed by hostile locals. "Gotcha! Crimefighters' New Toy" (February 3, 2005) published a videotape of a Pensacola police officer pointing a taser at a detainee's forehead and shocking him with 50,000 volts as he begged for mercy.

Watchdog years: 2015–2019

In its third decade, Inweekly returned to its investigative roots as a watchdog. In March 2015, it broke the news that Escambia County's award-winning Newpoint charter schools weren't what they seemed — altered grades, cheating on tests, harassment and mismanagement — prompting a state attorney investigation and the school board's termination of the charter contracts that May; Newpoint shut its schools the following month without paying teachers their final paychecks. The paper reported on corrupt charter schools, jail deaths, government mismanagement, injustice, cover-ups and the area's challenge of confronting the racist elements of its past.

The Newpoint investigation showed Inweekly's method at full strength: a tip pursued relentlessly, documents obtained and published, officials confronted on the record — and results measured in shuttered schools and launched investigations. Then-school board member Jeff Bergosh's allegation that Superintendent Malcolm Thomas had known of the misconduct for months, even as the governor awarded the schools $27,253 for high performance, became one of the paper's signature scoops. It was the kind of accountability reporting that made the powerful in Escambia County read the free weekly with dread.

Stands that defined the paper

Inweekly became known for its stands on the issues that shaped modern Pensacola: the Community Maritime Park, deaths in the county jail, the BP oil spill and other environmental injustices. The paper's motto — there are no sacred cows — made it feared by politicos, read by influentials and loved by readers who shared its passion for the area. "People wait for us to weigh in on the major stories in the community," its advertising materials say, and for a generation of Pensacola news consumers, that was literally true.

Annual issues and community culture

With the help of its editors, writers and graphic designers, Inweekly created annual issues that became part of the historic city's culture: Best of the Coast, Rest of the Best, Rising Stars and the Power List. These yearly rituals — celebrating the area's best businesses, people and up-and-comers — gave the paper a civic role beyond its watchdog reporting, embedding it in the social fabric of the Gulf Coast.

The annuals were more than reader-engagement exercises; they were how Inweekly celebrated the community it spent the rest of the year holding accountable. Best of the Coast crowned the region's favorite restaurants, bars, people and places; Rising Stars spotlighted the up-and-comers shaping the area's future; the Power List mapped who actually wielded influence in Pensacola. Together with the weekly's investigative reporting, they made Inweekly both the city's mirror and its conscience.

Circulation and readership

Inweekly reports a weekly circulation of 24,200, distributed at more than 300 sites across Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Pace and Navarre. Its weekly readership totals 35,844 — 31,860 in print and 3,984 for the digital edition — with 96 percent of copies picked up by Sunday morning. While other newspapers saw readership decline, Inweekly built a loyal fan base, particularly among readers under 40.

National recognition

The little paper's huge voice has been heard well beyond the Gulf Coast. Inweekly's writing has been profiled in the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Daily Beast. Publisher Rick Outzen has appeared on Dateline NBC, Oxygen and Discovery ID, is an award-winning author and serves as a regular commentator on nationally syndicated radio shows — a national platform built on two decades of local accountability journalism.

More than two decades of stirring the pot

Since 1999, Inweekly has told the story behind the stories in Pensacola politics, music, arts and entertainment — unafraid to challenge the powerful and push against the status quo, presenting its stories with energy, thorough reporting and writing that's fun to read. As publisher Rick Outzen wrote on the paper's 22nd anniversary, the paper aims to make readers laugh, curse and sometimes gasp — "but you won't want to miss an issue." Twenty-five-plus years in, Pensacola still doesn't.

The paper's longevity is a rebuke to everyone who declared the alt-weekly dead. From its jumbled first issue in 1999 through the Childers indictments, the taser videotape, the Newpoint scandal and the annual rituals of Best of the Coast, Inweekly proved that a small, independent, fiercely local paper could out-report the daily, outlast the downturns and earn a national reputation from a P.O. box in Pensacola, Florida. Feared by the politicos, read by the influentials, loved by its readers — the little paper with the huge voice is still stirring the pot.