The bureau was launched in 2014 by the Pamplin Media Group, which owned 25 newspapers in the Portland Metropolitan Area and Central Oregon, and the EO Media Group, which owned 15 newspapers and two magazines in Eastern and Central Oregon and on the Oregon Coast.
[1][2] In 2015, the bureau launched the newsletter Oregon Capital Insider.
[3][4] One of the leading advocates of establishing the bureau was Steve Forrester, president of the EO Media Group, and then publisher of the Daily Astorian.
Former Oregonian investigative reporter Les Zaitz directed the bureau from September 2018[6][7] to early 2020.
In spring 2020, the Salem Reporter and Zaitz departed.