Las Vegas Review-Journal Logs 116 Years of Journalism
Print newspaper expands digital features
The Journal has been Nevada’s newspaper of record for more than 116 years. But today, it’s so much more.
The Review-Journal is one of the 25 largest daily newspapers in the country by print circulation, and it operates the state’s most-visited, most-viewed local news website. It has a smartphone app and a twice-daily weekday video newscast. The Review-Journal publishes the quarterly rjmagazine and the annual “Best of Las Vegas” contest, and produces Neon, one of the most comprehensive entertainment guides—both in print and online—anywhere in the country.
Whatever the future brings, the Review-Journal adapts to deliver the region’s most essential news and information wherever readers want it.
"Las Vegas is constantly reinventing itself,” said Keith Moyer, Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher and editor. “As the state’s leader in news coverage, we have a robust newsroom fully outfitted for the 21st century to make our coverage of the city’s news and events insightful, thorough and efficient. We are grateful to call this city home and to document and record the events that affect us all.
The hallways and display spaces in the Review-Journal’s building tell the history of the city and the world over the past century. Framed front pages cover world wars and elections; the 9/11 attacks and the capture of Osama bin Laden; the MGM fire and UNLV’s men’s basketball national championship; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting on the Strip; hotel openings, major-league sports franchises, and severe storms. And much more.
Today, Las Vegas residents of every generation receive complete coverage not only on their driveways but also on their laptops, smartphones, and email inboxes every day.
Digital Present, Future
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has embraced the digital age and continues investing in technology to enhance its operation. It launched its website, LVRJ.com, on January 15, 1997.
Since then, the RJ has introduced smartphone apps, an e-Edition print replica, and a video studio to livestream local news. The popular “7@7” newscast—seven minutes of nonstop local news, streamed at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each weekday—was launched in 2021 and competes with traditional local TV news broadcasts. The program streams on the newspaper’s website, app, and platforms like YouTube and Fire TV.
Neon, the RJ’s guide to fun in Las Vegas, was recently redesigned, reinvented, and moved to its own website: neon.reviewjournal.com.
“We are changing with the times,” Moyer said. “Still, we hold fast to our integrity and journalistic standards.”
Defender of Press Freedoms, Public Information
Aggressive watchdog reporting is essential to covering community news. The Review-Journal has long driven key legal decisions that uphold Nevadans’ right to know.
The paper has sued Clark County government, Las Vegas police, and other agencies multiple times—and prevailed. These lawsuits secured access to cellphone records of public officials, autopsy reports, police investigative files, and other hidden records. These rulings now protect the public’s access to similar records.
In a landmark 2023 Nevada Supreme Court case, the Review-Journal won a decision extending the state’s reporter shield law beyond a reporter’s death. This arose from the 2022 murder of investigative reporter Jeff German, when police sought unrestricted access to his phone and laptop. The ruling kept German’s confidential sources and materials out of the hands of authorities and out of his killer’s trial.
"Unfortunately, news organizations sometimes have to use the courts to hold government accountable and protect our confidential sources,” said Executive Editor Glenn Cook. “When public officials think the law doesn’t apply to them, we’re not afraid to remind them it does."
Award-Winning Journalism and Promotions
Over the years, the Review-Journal has won hundreds of journalism awards. It is typically the top winner in the Nevada Press Foundation’s Awards of Excellence, and LVRJ.com has been named the state’s top news website six years in a row. The paper consistently wins Nevada’s Freedom of the Press award for defending the First Amendment and public records laws.
Editor & Publisher magazine named the RJ one of its “10 Newspapers That Do It Right” in 2018 and 2022. In the past seven years, the RJ has won four prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and four first-place National Headliner Awards. It’s also a frequent winner in the Best of the West contest, competing against outlets from Texas to Alaska.
Meanwhile, “Best of Las Vegas” celebrates its 44th year in 2025. What began as a reader’s poll has evolved into a major campaign culminating in a roughly 200-page glossy magazine, distributed each December to subscribers and in 500 racks across the city.
- Nominations: July 14–30 at voteBOLV.com
- Voting: August 18–September 11
Company History
The Review-Journal began in 1909 as the Clark County Review. It became the Las Vegas Review in 1926, then the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal in 1929. In 1949, “Evening” was dropped after Donald W. Reynolds and Donrey Media Group acquired an interest in the paper.
Donrey Media fully acquired the paper in 1960. A new headquarters and production facility was built in 1971 on West Bonanza Road. In 1993, after Reynolds’ death, Jack Stephens purchased the company, renaming it Stephens Media.
The paper’s massive 910-ton printing press was installed in 2000—one of the last major presses built in the U.S. The six-story building was constructed around it to house its size and capabilities, including full-color printing on every page.
In 2015, the Review-Journal and its sister papers in Pahrump, Tonopah, and Boulder City were purchased by the Adelson family, who continue to own them today.
