Tracey McManus is a journalist focused on local government accountability reporting. She joined The Dallas Morning News in 2024.

As a Tampa Bay Times reporter from 2015 to 2024, McManus covered the Church of Scientology, a totalitarian high control group with its headquarters in Clearwater, Fla. Her consistent investigations exposed in real time how Scientology-tied shell companies gradually purchased more than 200 properties in downtown Clearwater with $200 million in cash and kept them vacant, sabotaging the city’s revitalization efforts.

Her work also focused on Scientology’s alleged human trafficking and attempts to influence society. Her beat reporting on Scientology and local politics earned the 2024 Lucy Morgan Award for Open Government Reporting from the Florida First Amendment Foundation. In 2020 McManus won the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism for an investigation into Scientology’s real estate acquisitions.

With an interest in animal welfare, her reporting has also explained the abuses of roadside zoos and the shady business of cub petting.

McManus began her career at The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia from 2010 to 2015, where she covered schools, government and features. Her investigation into the fire chief’s illegal side business prompted him and three deputies to resign. She detailed sexual abuse allegations by students against their former high school band director, which led the Georgia NAACP to ban him from the organization for life.

McManus, a graduate of the University of Florida, lives in Dallas, Texas, with her one-eyed Pitt Bull named Winky.

Contact her at: TroMcManus@gmail.com