Incident details
- Date of incident
- September 30, 2025
- Assailant
- Private individual
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
Katie Daviscourt, second from left, speaks to Fox News host Jesse Watters on Oct. 1, 2025, about her reported assault the day before, while covering an anti-deportation protest in Portland, Oregon.
Katie Daviscourt, a reporter for the conservative news site The Post Millennial, had her eye blackened by a person swinging a flagpole during a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 30, 2025.
In a video Daviscourt posted to the social platform X, a woman is seen waving a flagpole at the protest, apparently saying Daviscourt’s name as she accuses her of being at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. An impact is heard in the video, followed by a voice exclaiming, "She just hit me in the face! Oh my God!”
Daviscourt, who posted on X that she is a full-time reporter who has been covering ICE activity in Portland for the past several months, did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.
The day after the incident, Daviscourt appeared on Fox News with a visible black eye.
She criticized the Portland Police Bureau’s response to her reported attack and demanded the resignation of Chief Bob Day, stating she immediately sought help from nearby police and chased the suspect for more than half an hour.
According to a bureau press release, a “dialogue liaison” officer, who cannot take enforcement action, was flagged down after an assault was reported Sept. 30. When he tried to detain the suspect, she fled.
Daviscourt was not named in the release, but police shared photos of the suspect and asked the public for help identifying her. The person with the flagpole in Daviscourt’s video matches the suspect in those photos.
In a statement to The Oregonian newspaper, a spokesperson for the Police Bureau said it would enforce the law at protests: “Free speech and gathering is lawful and protected by the Constitution, no matter the content of what’s being said. But criminal activity is not free speech, and the Portland Police Bureau is committed to addressing criminal behavior.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
