This book aims at exploring in a long historical perspective and in a wide historical context the reactions of political institutions and players towards new media and new forms of communication, as well as their strategies in order to combat and/or exploit their effects and potential. This is an original and innovative attempt to combine traditional approaches to the history of the media and politics with studies that aim to directly provide some historical perspective on contemporary preoccupations with 'fake news' and manipulation of public opinion. Addressing these topics by focusing on specific events and specific contexts as case studies allows us to connect the hic et nunc dimension with the general trend of the history and verify the particular effects of general long-term trends.