Washington Code 7.96.070 – Timelines and sufficiency of correction or clarification
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(1) A correction or clarification is timely if it is published before, or within thirty days after, receipt of a request for correction or clarification or of the information in RCW 7.96.050(1), whichever is later, unless the period is extended by written agreement of the parties.
Terms Used In Washington Code 7.96.070
- person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
(2) A correction or clarification is sufficient if it:
(a) Is published with a prominence and in a manner and medium reasonably likely to reach substantially the same audience as the publication complained of;
(b) Refers to the statement being corrected or clarified and:
(i) Corrects the statement;
(ii) In the case of defamatory or false meaning arising from other than the express language of the publication, disclaims an intent to communicate that meaning or to assert its truth; or
(iii) In the case of a statement attributed to another person, identifies the person and disclaims an intent to assert the truth of the statement;
(c) In advance of the publication, is provided to the person who has made a request for correction or clarification; and
(d) Accompanies and is an equally prominent part of any electronic publication of the allegedly defamatory or otherwise actionable statement by the publisher.
(3) A correction or clarification is published in a medium reasonably likely to reach substantially the same audience as the publication complained of if it is published in a later issue, edition, or broadcast of the original publication.
(4) If a later issue, edition, or broadcast of the original publication will not be published within the time limits established for a timely correction or clarification, a correction or clarification is published in a manner and medium reasonably likely to reach substantially the same audience as the publication complained of if:
(a) It is timely published in a reasonably prominent manner:
(i) In another medium likely to reach an audience reasonably equivalent to the original publication; or
(ii) If the parties cannot agree on another medium, in the newspaper with the largest general circulation in the region in which the original publication was distributed;
(b) Reasonable steps are taken to correct undistributed copies of the original publication, if any; and
(c) It is published in the next practicable issue, edition, or broadcast, if any, of the original publication.
(5) A correction or clarification is timely and sufficient if the parties agree in writing that it is timely and sufficient.
[ 2013 c 294 § 7.]