8.01-48 - Mitigation in actions against newspapers, etc.
§ 8.01-48. Mitigation in actions against newspapers, etc.
In any civil action against the publisher, owner, editor, reporter oremployee of any newspaper, magazine or periodical under § 8.01-45, or forlibel or defamation, because of any article, statement or other mattercontained in any such newspaper, magazine or periodical, the defendant,whether punitive damages be sought or not, may introduce in evidence inmitigation of general and punitive damages, or either, but not of actualpecuniary damages, all the circumstances of the publication, including thesource of the information, its character as affording reasonable ground ofreliance, any prior publication elsewhere of similar purport, the lack ofnegligence or malice on the part of the defendant, the good faith of thedefendant in such publication, or that apology or retraction, if any, wasmade with reasonable promptness and fairness; provided that the defendant mayintroduce in evidence only such circumstances and to the extent set forth inhis or its grounds of defense.
(Code 1950, § 8-632; 1954, c. 333; 1977, c. 617.)