When they announced it on the radio, the newsreader opened “George H. W. Bush is dead.” Not “...has died.”
To me, the difference is like hearing that a fugitives was finally brought down versus a retired public figure has passed on. This is nothing new coming from the MSM in the last few decades.
I honestly don’t remember how they initially announced the deaths of John McCain nor of his buddy Ted Kennedy, but I’m willing to bet that it went something like “Senator ... has finally lost their long battle with cancer...”
Just grousing about the usual newspeak. That is all.
While alive, the MSM despised Bush, but they’ll heap praise on him in death to contrast him with their current hatred of Trump.