NPR Dialect

Tonight on All Things Considered, I heard the sentence. "Tom Clancy has died." I would have expected the simple past tense, "Tom Clancy died."

I hear that all the time on NPR programs. It is not just the NPR shows produced in Washington DC, but also those from New York, Boston, L.A. And more. But I do t hear that form in other media or in everyday language.

It sounds like NPR has a style book that prohibits the simple past tense.

Am I alone in this perception?