Inside Outside

Last month, thirty-five of Outside magazine’s contributing editors, writers, and photographers signed an open letter to Outside Inc. requesting that their names be removed from the magazine’s masthead. “Despite the vast sums of money you have raised to consolidate the adventure media industry,” the letter read, “your company now seems intent on destroying what Outside once stood for: bold, spirited journalism.” The letter cited recent layoffs of nearly half the editorial staff, internal pressure to avoid topics construed as political, and a general shift away from the longform and investigative storytelling for which the magazine has been known. (Outside Inc. leadership contests all of these characterizations.) Among the signatories were Jimmy Chin, the Oscar-winning filmmaker; E. Jean Carroll, a prolific journalist and contributor to Outside; and Tim Cahill, who cofounded the magazine nearly fifty years ago. Many hadn’t written for the magazine in years, but the request signaled their will to distance themselves from what Outside had become.