A look at George H W Bush's and John McCain's obituaries and the media's whitewashing of history, in real time.
The deaths of prominent political figures are pivotal moments in which their legacies take shape - a process that plays out almost exclusively in the news media.
Late last year, the United States witnessed two such moments - August saw the passing of former senator and presidential candidate John McCain; and George H W Bush, the 41st US President, died in November.
In both the cases, the tributes that dominated the news cycle over the week that followed ranged from the admiring to the sentimental. The tone partly explainable by the timing - in the Donald Trump era of hyper-partisanship and government shutdowns, the memories of moderate, bipartisan Republicans appear to have triggered feelings of nostalgia in many journalists.
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