Major news outlets usually have a pre-prepared article for deaths of notable figures and celebrities. Then they can just fill in remaining blanks and publish qu

Major news outlets usually have a pre-prepared article for deaths of notable figures and celebrities. Then they can just fill in remaining blanks and publish quickly. On occasion one of these pre-prepared articles gets accidentally leaked, or sometimes a news outlet mistakenly thinks somebody died and runs with it. There is an SNL segment with Dana Carvey where he plays Tom Brokaw pre-taping all sorts of variations of Gerald Ford dying. (Dying at 83, 84, shot dead, overdose on crack, chopped by plane propeller, eaten by wolves, mauled by lion in convenience store.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tX6jdoruH8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tX6jdoruH8