Remember CNN's pre-cooked obits?

[anti_shrub]

A while back The Smoking Gun did a piece on CNN having pre made obits for famous people expected to die soon, and Reagan of course was among them.

What cracks me up is despite it becoming a minor embarrassment, when the time came, CNN used the ready made Reagan obit with the correct date plugged in.

The CNN page: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/reagan/index.html

The Smoking Gun story w/ screenshot of pre-cooked obit: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cnnobit2.html


Kinda funny how they couldn't even be bothered to change a thing.

[flamingyouth]

1. All news outlets use them

My friend who writes for a major paper did one on Bert Parks years before he died. It was one of her first assignments as an intern.

[anti_shrub]

2. I know, but

You would think that they'd change them up a bit since everyone saw what the pre cooked ones look like.

[flamingyouth]

4. But... but... that would take effort!

:evilgrin:

[w13rd0]

3. Not true...

...they changed the text (the epithat?), and the date, from 1911-2001 to 1911-2004

Woulda been strange if they left that as it was.

And now the text is:
"Lifeguard, athlete, movie star, governor, president -- there wasn't much that Ronald Reagan did not do in his lifetime."

Yeah, that's the sum of life, right there. Lifeguard, athlete, movie star, governor, president. If it weren't for those five roles, the world would stop spinning. Oh wait, if we are looking for things Ronald Reagan did not do in his lifetime, let's think of a few.

"Serve in the military"
"Go to church regularly"
"Give a damn about the poor"
"Put himself in the shoes of someone different from himself"
"Love his kids" (why didn't they put father between athlete and movie star?)
"pass up an opportunity to red-bait competitors for acting roles"

what am I missing?

[donhakman]

5. I don't blame them

I do cartoons of things that have yet to happen. Sometimes they are 3 years in advance and of course many times things go the opposite direction.

[LTR]

6. Maybe it's my browser, but

Why is the sentence "Lifeguard, athlete, movie star, governor, president -- there wasn't much that Ronald Reagan did not do in his lifetime" sitting on top of the image?

Seems they had enough time to get it right.

[Miss Authoritiva]

7. Your list is good except for one item:

Reagan did serve in the military (but not in combat)in WWII. He was based in Hollywood and made training/service films. Apparently, his bad vision and somewhat impaired hearing did not make him combat-worthy.

[Stephanie]

8. The best one:

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