That's TheWrap: A Change In California Law To Protect Online Media Publications

A dispute involving an online media publisher has prompted California's Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown to revise California's libel law, in an effort to protect such publishers. California's Civil Code Section 48a previously limited a plaintiff suing for libel in a newspaper to special damages, unless he or she demanded that the publisher correct the allegedly false statements and the publisher failed to make such corrections. A 2014 California Court of Appeal decision refused to extend this protection to online media publications, finding that the term "newspaper" meant "a publication that was printed on inexpensive paper, often daily" when Section 48a was enacted in 1931 and amended in 1945. Partially in recognition of this decision, the California Legislature proposed Assembly Bill 988 earlier this year, which revised the language of Section 48a to expand protection to online publishers. Governor Brown approved the bill on September 28, 2015, and the new law will take effect on January 1, 2016. The law contains no language regarding retroactive application.

The following discussion of the case is taken from the Court of Appeal's opinion:

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