CNN laments posted obits

CNN blamed human error Thursday for exposing obituary mock-ups that its Web site’s designers had prepared for Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope and other prominent figures.

Though the templates -- to be used when the subject dies -- had been on a development site meant for internal review, the public briefly had access to them after the password protection got disabled.

CNN spokeswoman Edna Johnson said the network was investigating the cause of the error, which was discovered and fixed on Wednesday.

The Web site the Smoking Gun had copies of the mock-ups for Reagan, Hope, Fidel Castro, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Gerald Ford and Dick Cheney