Veteran reporter discusses journey to journalism

Donna Francavilla’s journey to media started as an interest in language.

The daughter of two Italian immigrants, Francavilla started paying attention to words and pronunciation as a result of her parents’ heavy accents. Her interest grew, and she enrolled in analysis of public speaking classes in high school, studied the oral interpretation of literature and later applied what she learned to journalism.

“I did well there, which led to the idea that maybe I could do something with that ability, which led to thinking about journalism, which led to enrolling in some classes and having teachers pull me aside and say, ‘You’ve got a talent, young lady,’ which led to being employable,” Francavilla said.

Francavilla is a long-time CBS Radio news reporter and the owner of Frankly Speaking Communications, LLC, and she has won several awards for her work. She won four first-place awards in the 2015 Alabama Media Professionals Communications Contest for her work on radio and television. The two first-place awards for television were important to her, Francavilla said, because she did some reporting work for ABC 33/40 after an absence from TV in 15 years.

“I got out there, and I was feeling pretty nervous, but [ABC 33/40] put up with my nervousness and my anxiety and helped me do well, to feel more comfortable,” she said. “It’s funny because the first live shot I did, the director said I had a deer in the headlights look to me.”

Francavilla has won awards for work throughout her career, but she doesn’t do it for the awards – she does it for the stories.

“I am fascinated by people and their stories,” she said. “Everyone has at least one fascinating story that they have lived through. Mining for that story is what drives me.”

Drawing people out and finding their story takes a different strategy with different individuals. Sometimes she has to step out of the way so good storytellers can share their story, and other times she steps in to help organize their experiences. These tactics don’t only apply to media, however. Finding a person’s story also helps fuel her company. Her work with Frankly Speaking Communications is geared toward helping clients realize and tell their story in the most effective way.

“People who I work for have stories they’re not aware that they have, so I help them discover what their story is and help them pair it with what their message is, or what they want it to be,” she said.

It mainly boils down to respect, Francavilla said. This rule of respect helped her get a story from Stephen Gobie, a lover of former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts). 

At a press conference, Gobie planned to “tell all to all,” Francavilla said, but the media overwhelmed him. She sat down with Gobie following the press conference and was able to get “salacious details” which she aired the next day.

“The general manager at my station said, ‘I couldn’t get out of my car. I had to hear the rest of the interview,’” Francavilla said. “So I just think that maybe being mean or aggressive is not the way to go, that if you can connect with the person you’re interviewing with, they will open up to you.”

After 20 years in Birmingham and 15 years freelancing for CBS, Francavilla said she has seen a change in media. She always keeps her “reporter hat” in her back pocket, but technology means there’s less need to carry more than curiosity and her cell phone. 

“We capture everything that’s happening and report it to one another and feed it to the Internet, so I’m not longer as necessary as I once was, but I say that with a smile because that’s completely cool with me,” Francavilla said. “I think that’s great that we can all do a job that I love.”