Privilege

Privilege can either be absolute or qualified. Absolute privilege includes statements made during judicial, legislative, and other public or official proceedings. Anything someone says during such proceedings is not actionable for libel, even if the statements are false, malicious, or damaging. Legislators, for example, can’t be sued for anything they choose to say on the legislature’s floor.

If a fair and impartial report of judicial, legislative, and other public or official proceedings is accurate, it is not actionable for libel. The press is not allowed absolute privilege; instead, it has qualified privileges, based on the accuracy of reports. Privilege can be lost if there are errors in the report of the hearing.