French journalists come to Feeding Medina County distribution to explore issues ahead of the midterm

WADSWORTH — Journalists from Radio France Internationale stopped by Feeding Medina County's distribution in Wadsworth on Thursday to help them better understand voters in the region. François-Damien Bourgery and Justine Fontaine described Radio France Internationale as a French public media outlet that is focused on international affairs. Fontaine said the broadcaster has a permanent foreign correspondent in Washington, D.C., and several freelance correspondents across the country. Bourgery reported in Pennsylvania in June to cover the 250th anniversary of the United States and went to Arizona to cover the 2024 presidential election. It is Fontaine's first time reporting in the United States. Bourgery said they are in Medina County to cover a variety of issues ahead of the midterm election such as affordability, healthcare, agriculture, tariffs and the trade war. "We're doing a series of reports about these issues as seen by different voters, and we're doing several profiles on video and radio this week in Medina County to illustrate these issues," Fontaine said. "Yesterday we were with a soybean farmer, today we are at the food distribution and tomorrow we are going to the free clinic. We are going to do a profile of someone who is protesting against data centers in Lorain County." Medina County was chosen because they see it as a "toss-up district in a toss-up state," Bourgery said. They described the voters of Medina County as welcoming and warm. "(Other) people are a bit more shy, but people here are really willing to speak with journalists," Fontaine said. They are still early on in their reporting of Medina County, but Fountaine said one of the things that surprised her so far about the election is that the signs are mainly about local races. "I think we've not seen so many signs about the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, but we've seen a lot of signs for judges and the Ohio House of Representatives," she said. "That's maybe one of the things that surprised me a little." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at 330-721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.