"Thus began my adventure as a foreign correspondent in the US."

Anne Corpet is a French correspondent and official U.S. Bureau Chief of RFI (French International Public Radio). She sat down for a conversation with Foreign Press U.S.A. to share about her trajectory working for public radio since 1996, her coverage of current affairs in the U.S. during the 2020 election, as well as her participation on the Washington D’ici podcast. 

As a reporter from France, who has an extensive career in radio broadcasting, it took a while for Anne to get to where she is today. After years working in RFI and occasionally covering stories in America, it was only in 2017 that she was appointed as U.S. Bureau Chief. A few days upon her arrival, she had to leave D.C. to cover a hurricane in Texas. 

“I was supposed to begin my job on September 1st, but a hurricane happened, and Houston, Texas was flooded…After my arrival, I hadn’t even unpacked my stuff and had to jump on a flight and begin my great American adventure.”

When rewinding to the early stages of her career, Anne remembers being a reporter for 10 years, sharing stories on all sorts of subjects. From natural catastrophes to protests in Paris, she witnessed anything and everything to provide authentic news coverage. At the peak of her trajectory, Anne decided to stop doing the hands-on work and occupy the editorial position. 

“I was sending great reporters all over the world and had the opportunity of looking at everything from the outside…but then I felt like I wanted to go back on the ground, and I arrived here. It was perfect!”

Anne carried on talking about her experiences working in D.C. after being on and off the field. The insights she was able to bring to her team were more holistic since she had the clinical perception of what stories were ideal for the radio and more interesting to delve into. 

“The experience that I have had in D.C was definitely the best for mixing both the knowledge as a reporter and as an editor-in-chief because I know what to expect and the needs of the radio, and I was in a position in which I was allowed to propose ideas to my boss of what I could cover.”

Since RFI reaches a worldwide audience, most of its listeners come from French-speaking countries. The most prominent group of listeners come from different places in Africa, which impacted the U.S. news stories that Anne focused on. 

“My audience was very interested in all the Black Lives Matter movement, the protests after George Floyd’s death, and stories related to the Afro-Americans, such as how Covid-19 impacted them…These topics worked very well, and I have many listeners that write to me about those stories.”

Another heated matter that the RFI listeners are interested in is American politics. Especially when a decision that starts in the U.S. affects other countries as well. The focus on last year’s election led Anne and other francophone correspondents to join forces and report about Trump and Biden's dispute from multiple cities and perspectives.  This initiative became the now popularly know Washington D’ici podcast. 

“It was nice for me to learn a new way of communicating because I have been doing radio for more than 20 years, and suddenly you learn something new with the podcast. It’s a new way of expressing yourself, and it's more natural…We would insert some of our reporting in the podcast, so some of us could be covering in Minnesota while the other would be in Florida.  At the end of the week, we mixed that experience, and it was exciting.”

Lastly, Anne shared her experience interviewing the American people about their opinions on politics and government. She expanded on a statement she had made in a recent article for AFC about how easy it is to approach Americans about their beliefs when you come from a foreign news outlet. 

“I think that the American people are trained at an early age to express themselves, and there is this freedom of speech that is inside any American citizen…Everybody is eager to say what they have to say on any subject, especially in politics…I think it was easier for foreign correspondents to speak with Trump supporters.”

(Photo Credits: RFI)