A fawning obituary published by the New York Times this month has sparked renewed scrutiny of how elite media outlets frame violent political history. In her first Times byline since September, Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote an obituary of Assata Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, without naming the state trooper she was convicted of murdering.
Hannah-Jones wrote, “In 1977, an all-white jury found her guilty of murdering a New Jersey state trooper who died in a shootout after a car that Shakur and her colleagues were riding in was stopped by the police.” She added, “Shakur, who was shot twice, said her hands were in the air and she didn’t shoot anyone.” The article never identifies the victim as Werner Foerster, a 34-year-old Vietnam veteran with a wife, child, and family home.
Federal authorities have long rejected Shakur’s claims of innocence. In 2013, the FBI placed her on its most-wanted terrorist list. Then–special agent Aaron Ford said, “Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer execution-style.” That designation came under President Barack Obama, a detail omitted from the obituary.
The Times had already published a fuller obituary in September 2025 by Clyde Haberman, who named Foerster and another wounded trooper, James Harper. Haberman also noted Shakur’s own rhetoric, including that her autobiography referred to police as “pigs.”
Hannah-Jones described Shakur as having “died free” in Cuba after being “smuggled into Cuba and granted asylum as a political prisoner,” language consistent with her past praise of the communist regime. In a 2008 article, Hannah-Jones wrote, “We could see that Cuba is not the great evil we are led to believe.”
The fawning obituary debate underscores ongoing concerns that narrative framing at major outlets often omits victims while elevating ideological figures.
