] APRIL 16--While all news organizations prepare obituaries
] in advance of the deaths of famous individuals, the folks
] at CNN inadvertently gave the Internet-surfing public a
] chance to preview how the network's web site would note
] the demise of Vice President Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan,
] and a few other prominent figures. Until earlier this
] afternoon, a CNN server housed mock-ups of web pages
] announcing the yet-to-happen deaths. The CNN pages, which
] were discovered by the intrepid folks at fark.com, were
] yanked about 20 minutes after being exposed (though TSG
] was able to grab a few of the pages for posterity's
] sake). The premature obituaries, which were housed in a
] publicly accessible area of the CNN server, were
] apparently the work of Peter Rentz, a senior multimedia
] designer at CNN. The mock-ups are virtually identical to
] the obituary design currently used by CNN when a notable
] person dies (click here to see how CNN covered the Queen
] Mother's death). In fact, elements of the Queen Mum's
] obit template can be seen in the below Cheney mockup. In
] addition to Cheney and Reagan, CNN has also prepped
] online farewells to Fidel Castro, Bob Hope, and Nelson
] Mandela. (4 pages)

The Smoking Gun: Advance Obituaries