US news channel pronounces former first lady Barbara Bush dead. She isn't

George Bush Sr. and Barbara Bush. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/@GeorgeHWBush

Former US first lady Barabara Bush has been gravely ill for a while now but American news channel CBS may have reportedly jumped the gun by inadvertently publishing a news report about her death.

The journalistic hara-kiri occurred on Sunday when CBS published an obituary article which had a headline proclaiming the 92-year-old to be dead. The headline of the copy clearly had the words 'DO NOT PUBLISH' written at the beginning and at the end but this very headline was taken as is. “Barbara Bush, the witty, gregarious matriarch of a political dynasty that propelled two of its members to the White House and dominated Republican politics for decades, has died after a series of recent hospitalizations. She was 92. A Bush family spokesperson said Bush passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by loved ones,” the article read before being taken down.

It appears that CBS accidentally published their pre-write about former first lady Barbara Bush. The article has since been removed. pic.twitter.com/e12yNgB9jr

— Claire Allbright (@claireallbright) April 15, 2018

Barbara - who served as US First Lady between 1989 and 1993 - has reportedly been ailing for some time now. With age-related woes, she has also reportedly refused any further medical assistance.

The 37th First Lady of the US though is still alive and CBS' report informing readers of her death caused some degree of backlash. Many users on Twitter slammed the news channel for trying too hard to be the first. Those who have worked directly or even in some indirect way with media outlets though have been defending CBS by saying that human errors cannot always be avoided and that while care should have been taken with a copy as sensitive as this, it is not an unforgivable mistake