One of the world’s most trusted references was busy double-checking its facts on Ireland tonight after giving a grossly inaccurate account of the country’s civil war.
A concise version of Encyclopaedia Britannica which was first published seven years ago wrongly described the 1922 conflict over partition as a war between Catholics in the south and Protestants in the north.
Editors worked through the night to ensure the extraordinary mistake has not been repeated in online versions used by 4,000 schools in a special e-learning programme.
Ian Grant, Encyclopaedia Britannica managing director, said the offending article may have been wrongly compiled by an editor attempting to condense complex history.
“This is very rare,” he said.
[Snip]
He could not explain for definite how the error had been made.
But he suggested an inexperienced editor may have attempted to explain the civil war in a very small article and confused history with a current mistaken perception about sectarianism and the Troubles.
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