'Daring' Register reporter gets recognition from Trevor Noah at White House Correspondents' dinner

From staff reports
·2 min read
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A Des Moines Register reporter got a shout-out from Trevor Noah on Saturday as he hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The mention came as the comedian from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" spoke after President Joe Biden's remarks. Most of Noah's comments were satirical, but he waxed serious for a few moments when he saluted journalists as the proverbial Fourth Estate — "an additional check and balance that holds power to account and gives a voice to those who otherwise wouldn't have one."

"I’m not just talking about, like, CNN or Fox or all the major organizations," Noah said. "I’m talking about everyone. The young journalists we saw today. Intrepid journalists who aren’t even in this room, in Flint, Michigan, or that daring reporter at the Des Moines Register …”

Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," speaks at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 30, 2022, in Washington.
Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," speaks at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 30, 2022, in Washington.

It was an apparent reference to Andrea Sahouri, a Register staff writer. Sahouri was in the parking lot of a Verizon store near Merle Hay Mall, covering a protest in the wake of the George Floyd killing on May 31, 2020, when a Des Moines police officer arrested her, saying she had failed to heed a police order to disperse.

Des Moines Register staff writer Andrea Sahouri.
Des Moines Register staff writer Andrea Sahouri.

When Sahouri protested that she was a reporter doing her job, the officer directed a charge of pepper spray at her face and placed her hands behind her back in a zip-tie restraint.

Though Sahouri continued to protest that she was a Register reporter, she was placed in a van to be taken to jail. While awaiting transport, she continued to report, somehow managing to get her cell phone out of her pocket and livestream an account of her arrest, saying, "I'm just doing my job as a journalist."

Charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts, she went to trial in March 2021. After hearing three days of testimony, a Polk County jury acquitted her in less than two hours.

"I'll admit it felt cool to have had a little shout-out on the national stage," Sahouri said Sunday. "But I'm most proud of us as local journalists. We were recognized, and that recognition is so deserving."

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trevor Noah, at correspondents' dinner, praises Register reporter