1[(dd) "originator" means the initiator of a defamatory statement or any other defamatory
act;]
(e) "publication" means the communication of the words to at least one person other than the
person defamed and includes a newspaper or broadcast through the internet or other
media; and
(f) "publisher" means a commercial publisher, that is, a person whose business is issuing
material to the public, or a section of the public, who issues material containing the
statement in the course of that business.
3. Defamation._(1) Any wrongful act or publication or circulation of a false statement or
representation made orally or in written or visual form which injuries the reputation of a person, tends
to lower him in the estimation of others or tends to reduce him to ridicule, unjust criticism, dislike,
contempt or hatred shall be actionable as defamation.
(2) Defamation is of two forms, namely:
(i) slander; and
(ii) libel.
(3) Any false oral statement or representation that amounts to defamation shall be actionable as
slander.
(4) Any false written, documentary or visual statement or representation made either by ordinary
form or expression or by electronic or other modern means or devices that amounts to defamation
shall be actionable as libel.
4. Defamation actionable. The publication of defamatory matter is an actionable wrong without
proof of special damage to the person defamed and where defamation is proved, damage shall be
presumed.
5. Defences. In defamation proceedings a person has a defence if he shows that
(a) he was not the author, editor, publisher or printer of the statement complained of;
(b) the matter commented on is fair and in the public interest and is an expression of opinion
and not an assertion of fact and was published in good faith;
(c) it is based on truth and was made for public good;
(d) assent was given for the publication by the plaintiff;
(e) offer to tender a proper apology and publish the same was made by the defendant but was
refused by the plaintiff;
(f) an offer to print or publish a contradiction or denial in the same manner and with the same
prominence was made but was refused by the plaintiff;
1 New clause (dd) ins. ibid.
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