by Rick Outzen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
photo by Barrett McClean, Barrett McClean Photography
RICK OUTZEN is the publisher and owner of Pensacola Inweekly, an alt-weekly newspaper that published its first issue on July 1, 1999. Six years later, he launched his blog, aptly named “Rick’s Blog,” that quickly became one of the most influential blogs in the state of Florida.
His reporting for the Daily Beast on the Billings murders, a double-homicide that garnered national attention, caught the attention of the New York Times that then profiled him and his blog. He was also featured on Dateline NBC’s segment on the murders, “No Safe Place.”
Rick also covered the BP oil spill for The Daily Beast, earning international attention for unraveling the oil company’s spin on the disaster. He was interviewed by MSNBC, CNN, CBC-TV, and Al Jazeera English.
He was a finalist for the Sunshine State Awards for investigative reporting for his coverage of the failed turnaround effort of a middle school in the Escambia County Public School District.
Since 2003 Rick has been a regular contributor to Ring of Fire Radio, a show created by Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Mike Papantonio. The radio show was originally broadcast on Air America and is currently nationally syndicated.
In 2014 he self-published a digital book on his “Outtakes” columns: I’m That Guy: Collected Columns of a Southern Journalist.
Rick grew up in the Mississippi Delta and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi.
He and his family have lived in the Pensacola, Florida, area since 1982.