Courtney Francisco

WSB-TV News Staff Courtney Francisco has been part of the WSB-TV family since December 2022. She is an Emmy-award winning journalist and grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Cumberland Gap, Tenn. Her journalism career has taken her across the U.S. and Central America. Before Atlanta, she was a Senior Reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio. There, her reports focusing on keeping kids safe earned her the trust of state and county sources who helped her uncover critical information about child abuse deaths in the state. She also provided the public with award-winning reports on the demonstrations that unfolded after the police killing of George Floyd. In 2019, she decided to move to El Salvador to cover the migration crisis and improve her Spanish-speaking skills. That’s where she interviewed residents, soldiers, police and the Minister of Health about flipping the country’s crime rate and health care system in an effort to reduce the number of families forced to flee the country. She was an Anchor and Reporter in Charlotte, NC when her 17-hour stretch of breaking news reporting on the deadly protests after a police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott, earned an Emmy nomination. In Oklahoma City, she was one of 12 journalists permitted inside the death chamber to witness the botched execution of Clayton Lockett. The task was to report back to the public about the process so you could decide if it was Constitutional. Her extensive investigative reports on the drugs used, Lockett’s crime and his time on death row gained national recognition. Also, the work she was part of when a deadly tornado ripped through Moore, Okla. in 2013, earned both regional and national Emmy awards. In Texas, some of her most notable work focused on the military hearing Nidal Hasan, convicted of the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 killed and 32 injured. Her environmental investigation into a Beaumont, Texas toxic waste disposal site lead the Environmental Protection Agency to change the way it monitors these sites. You will find Courtney is dedicated to the public service of providing crucial, at times life-saving information to you fast and accurately. Above all, providing a voice for the most vulnerable among us is what lies beneath her passion.