Vianna Davila
I’m deputy editor of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit.
Need to Get in Touch?
What I Cover
As a reporter with the team, most of my coverage was focused on the military justice system and the intersection of state politics and power. I looked at how the Texas attorney general aggressively pursued politically charged lawsuits and investigations while repeatedly declining to represent state agencies in court, and I showed how the state’s governor exaggerated claims of noncitizens voting.
My Background
I’m now deputy editor with the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative initiative, after spending five years as a reporter on the team. As a reporter, my colleagues and I were finalists for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Political Reporting for our reporting that showed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s claims about noncitizens voting en masse were severely inflated and, in some cases, simply wrong. Our military justice reporting showed that Army soldiers accused of sexual assault were less than half as likely to be placed in pretrial confinement than those accused of offenses such as drug use and distribution. A year after our story on how hundreds of soldiers charged with violent crimes were administratively discharged from the military instead of facing a court-martial, the Army said it would no longer allow military commanders to decide on their own whether soldiers accused of certain serious crimes can leave the service rather than go on trial. My colleagues and I also received the Investigators Reporters & Editors Award for Investigations Triggered by Breaking News for our coverage of the deadly 2021 Texas winter storm.
I was previously a reporter with, and later editor of, The Seattle Times’ Project Homeless initiative, which examines the causes and effects of homelessness in the Seattle region. My work with the project was named some of the Best Solutions Journalism in 2018.
Before that, I spent a total of 13 years as a reporter for my hometown newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, covering growth, city politics, regional transportation and criminal justice. My colleagues named me reporter of the year in 2013.
I took a brief break from the Express-News to get my master’s in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where I graduated with a specialty in documentary film. My master’s thesis film, “In His Blood,” about the lives of overnight television news photographers, was named the best documentary short at the 2009 San Antonio Film Festival. I graduated from Rice University in Houston with a degree in English. I’m a 10th-generation Tejana, a Texan of Mexican descent, which means my family has been in this land we now call Texas for a very long time.
Twice Accused of Sexual Assault, He Was Let Go by Army Commanders. He Attacked Again.
A first-of-its-kind analysis reveals that soldiers in the Army are more likely to be locked up ahead of trial for drug offenses than for sexual assault under a system that gives commanders control.
Help ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Report on the Military Justice System
We’re looking into how the military investigates service members accused of crimes, intersects with the civilian justice system and treats cases that do not make it to courts-martial. Guide us to important stories.
Civil Rights Lawsuit Accuses Police of Unlawfully Arresting a High Schooler in the Early Days of the Pandemic
The lawsuit cites findings from a ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation that featured Socrates Shawn, who was commuting between his divorced parents’ homes when he was pulled over and arrested in April 2020 by an officer in Progreso, Texas.
What ProPublica Is Doing About Diversity in 2022
Here is our annual report on the breakdown of our staff and how we’re working to create a more diverse news organization and inclusive journalism community.
“Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather
Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers.
Rio Grande Hospital Workers Turned Down the Vaccine. A Senator and a Sheriff’s Deputy Lined Up Instead.
So many workers at a hospital in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that the facility offered doses to other medical workers in the region. It turns out, the vaccine ended up going to non-medical personnel as well.
Restrictions on the South Texas Border Were Meant to Protect People From COVID-19. Then the Handcuffs Came Out.
Governments along the Texas-Mexico border took a hard line to limit COVID-19’s spread. Police were key to the public health response, resulting in hundreds jailed and nearly 2,000 people ticketed.
How a Self-Described Felon Convinced Elected Officials to Try to Help Him Profit From the Pandemic
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when testing supplies were limited, local politicians went to great lengths to help a businessman with a criminal past try to sell telehealth and COVID-19 services across Texas. This is their story.
Texas Governor Is Cracking Down on Cities’ Enforcement of COVID-19 Orders, but Many Already Took a Lax Approach
Complaint data from a dozen Texas cities shows disparate approaches to enforcement, particularly among businesses, have been incredibly common.
Texas Still Won’t Say Which Nursing Homes Have COVID-19 Cases. Families Are Demanding Answers.
Citing a state medical privacy law, Texas is refusing to release the names of long-term care facilities where residents have died from COVID-19, even as those case numbers soar and families plead for information.