The Prineville Review is an independent news publication based in Prineville, Oregon, serving Crook County and communities across Central Oregon.
Launched in the summer of 2024, the Review was founded around a simple idea: local communities deserve journalism that is accessible, independent and willing to ask difficult questions.
We report on local government, public safety, schools, businesses, elections, community events and the people who call Central Oregon home. We also place a strong emphasis on investigative and accountability journalism — particularly when decisions involving public money and public institutions are being made outside the public eye.
And we believe that reporting should be available to everyone. The Prineville Review does not place its news coverage behind a paywall.
Local journalism that asks questions
In a relatively short time, the Prineville Review has shown what persistent local reporting can accomplish.
Our reporters regularly attend public meetings, examine budgets and audits, request government records, speak with residents and public officials, and continue asking questions long after an initial story is published.
That work has taken us from meetings of some of Crook County’s smallest special districts to courtrooms, state agencies and federal court.
Our reporting on the Alfalfa Fire District, for example, grew from concerns about the operations of a small rural fire district into extensive coverage of its finances, years of overdue audits, governance, public meetings, public records, state and federal grant funding, elections and government ethics.
When district officials later attempted to restrict the Prineville Review’s access to public meetings, the dispute ultimately reached federal court. In 2026, a federal judge granted injunctive relief after finding the Review was likely to succeed on its claim that district officials had engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
That reporting has continued as residents and district officials confront serious questions about the district’s finances, including the handling of federal grant money and approximately $165,000 in firefighting equipment that went unpaid for months.
Other investigations have focused on how public money and authority are being used elsewhere in Crook County.
The Review’s reporting on the Crook County Vector Control District has examined government ethics, contracting, financial practices, public records and district governance. By 2026, those concerns had drawn increasing outside scrutiny, including efforts by Crook County commissioners to obtain an independent third-party review of the district’s financial practices. When the district failed to respond to a Prineville Review records request, the Crook County District Attorney ordered records released and prohibited the district from charging the Review for their production.
Our reporting has also examined the Ochoco West Water & Sanitary Authority, where repeated public-records and public-meetings disputes eventually led the Review to seek judicial enforcement. In January 2026, a Crook County Circuit Court judge ordered the district to release public records and pay legal costs. Separate complaints stemming from public-meetings concerns also resulted in state ethics investigations involving district officials.
Sometimes the questions begin with something as simple as looking at who was in the room.
In 2026, our examination of Crook County Fair Board records uncovered a previously undisclosed committee discussing how to use $1 million in state funding for horse-racing facilities. Records showed those discussions had occurred outside regular Fair Board meetings without publicly available notices, agendas, minutes or recordings. Continued reporting brought those meetings and the decisions being discussed there into public view.
Reporting that can lead to change
Accountability reporting isn’t only about exposing problems. Some of the most meaningful results happen when scrutiny leads government to change how it operates.
The Prineville Review has repeatedly challenged public bodies over access to meetings and records. Those efforts have resulted in records being released, government officials receiving additional training, state investigations being opened and courts ordering public bodies to comply with Oregon transparency laws.
Crook County itself provides one of the clearest examples.
After the Review challenged the county’s handling of public records, Oregon’s Public Records Advocate concluded in 2025 that portions of the county’s practices did not align with state law.
What began as a dispute over access to records became part of a much broader conversation about transparency in county government. Crook County subsequently changed its public-meetings practices, expanded training and recording requirements, shifted day-to-day responsibility for public records away from County Counsel, and adopted a substantially revised public records policy in 2026.
Those changes benefit more than a newsroom.
Public records and open meetings belong to the public. When access improves because someone was willing to challenge an existing practice, every resident benefits from a government that is a little easier to see and understand.
More than watchdog journalism
Accountability reporting is an important part of the Prineville Review, but it is not the whole story.
Since 2024, we’ve been there for wildfires, crashes and other breaking public-safety events. We’ve covered elections and local government decisions, schools and students, businesses and economic developments, community celebrations, veterans, nonprofits and the accomplishments of our neighbors.
Some stories require months of records requests and investigation. Others require simply showing up when something happens.
Both matter.
We believe local journalism works best when reporters are part of the communities they cover — attending the meetings, knowing the roads and neighborhoods, listening to residents and understanding why a decision that might look small from somewhere else can matter enormously here.
Independent and accessible
The Prineville Review is a publication of Western Media Group, a U.S.-registered entity.
Our reporters are members of and/or follow the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, including its principles to seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent.
Our reporting has also reached audiences beyond Crook County through media partnerships and republication, including with the Oregon Journalism Project and KTVZ News.
But our focus remains local.
We don’t believe residents should have to pay before they can learn what their local government is doing. That’s why our reporting remains available without a subscription or paywall.
Keeping independent local journalism free isn’t without cost. It requires time, travel, records fees, equipment, technology and the infrastructure necessary to keep publishing. Support from readers and local advertisers helps make that work possible.
Our community is one of our most important sources
Many important stories don’t begin with a press release. They begin with a resident asking, “Have you looked into this?”
We take those questions seriously.
If you know about something happening in Crook County or Central Oregon that deserves attention — a government issue, breaking news, an upcoming event, a local accomplishment or simply a story that hasn’t been told — we want to hear from you.