The case of the made up Mali book burning

Remember when those dastardly Islamists burned all the ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu?

The story started when a Sky reporter embedded with French troops filmed inside the empty new archive building.

It was picked up by the mayor—who was by then 800km away—and quickly became media fact.

But it was never true.

After Timbuktu’s communication blackout was lifted, it turned out that the vast majority of the manuscripts were safe—either down in the vaults, still in the old building, or transported far from Timbuktu.