> I am curious how something like this would have been handled 50, 100, 200 years ago.

The idea that the press should be politically neutral is a pretty new one -- historically there were highly partisan newspapers, alongside "impartial" ones.

But I think the lies, etc., were more likely to be litigated on charges of slander, defamation, etc., at least when they were about individuals.

Now they're all about "socialism" or whatever, and unfortunately socialism doesn't have any lawyers.