Archie D’Cruz :
Oh , perfectly , and not for just the previous and ill , but also for the very illustrious . ( you’re able to depend , for model , that pieces would have been penned on Barack Obama as soon as he was first elected president ) .
They are known as forward motion obituaries , and while not all major tidings organizations do it , many of the declamatory certainly do . Of the ones that I know of , TheNew York Times , TheWashington Post , theLos Angeles Times , the BBC , CNN , and take tidings agencies Reuters , AP , and AFP all maintain necrology , which are updated on a steady basis .
Obit writers atTheNew York Times , which is known to haveat least 1700of these posts on file , will sometimes even reach out to the subject of their grim pieces for audience , with the asking flummox as “ We ’re updating your biographical file ” or “ This is for possible succeeding utilisation . ”
With someone like Stephen Hawking , the web tribute with images and video would very probably have been ready in advance as well . Television networks like the BBC also pre - prepare video packages that can be air presently after a celebrity death .
This practice of creating advance obituaries can ( and often does ) result to more than just embarrassment .
The most far-famed late one that I can recall was that of Apple founder Steve Jobs , declared deadby Bloomberg in 2008 — three years before his genuine pass . Bloomberg was updating its progress obit but wound up publishing it by fault , send shockwaves through Wall Street .
Its recantation was even more cringe - suitable , refuse to even name Jobs and simply saying , “ An uncompleted story reference Apple Inc. was unwittingly published by Bloomberg News … the item was never mean for publication and has been retracted . ”
Several other well - known people have betide the same fate — among them George H. W. Bush ( whoDer Spiegeldescribedin its 2013 obit as a “ colourless politico whose image only improved when it was compared to the late administration of his Logos , George W. Bush ” ) , and several world figures including Nelson Mandela , Gerald Ford , and Fidel Castro whose obits were wrongly published on CNN ’s exploitation internet site in 2003 .
Sometimes , though , a too - hurriedly published necrology can turn out to have a eloquent lining .
In 1888 , several paper announced Alfred Nobel ’s passing , in a mix - up related to his brother Ludwig ’s death . A Gallic newspaper , in its obit on the Swedish arm manufacturer , thundered “ The merchandiser of expiry is all in , ” impart that Nobel “ became rich by finding ways to pop more people quicker than ever before ( through his invention of dynamite ) . ”
On reading that report , Nobel is say to have become hard put about how the world would think him . It led to him bequeathing the bulk of his estate to form the Nobel Prize in 1895 . He died a twelvemonth later .
This post in the beginning appeared on Quora . Clickhereto view .
