Hi, I'm new here so I don't know whether this topic has already been discussed:

I thought about providing the PCs with some self-made news reports about interesting things that are happening around the galaxy, just to add some flavour and give them a sense of where on the SW timeline they are right now and maybe even mention some of their own actions, e.g. "Last week there was a shootout on the streets of xyz [...]".

My problem is that I don't know how these news should be properly conveyed, as the HoloNet has been completely taken over by the Empire - and even if it hadn't, my guess would be that the Outer Rim would not have a proper access.

Instead I was thinking about something like a local virtual newspaper that could be read at a console or "on-demand" video news (just like todays news websites). But does non-imperial press even exist during that time period?

(English is not my native tongue so please excuse any typos or strange wording.)

Yeah, that is pretty much how to do it. Little holoprojectors around a city would be useful for spreading Imperial propaganda. You could use them as virtual town criers or newspaper salesbeings, or the "Good Morning Galaxy" show with Fenn Gladstone and Sarna Fraywatt.

As for actual news, not propaganda, you might have pirated channels on the HoloNet broadcasting the actual goings-on in the galaxy, having to do with the real Rebellion actively or Imperial injustice. Or you might have individuals discreetly drop pieces of flimsiplast or cheap recording units into the pockets of targeted citizens in an effort to spread the word.

Here's an example:

http://holonetnews.com/

There's an interesting article suggesting that the majority of people in the Star Wars galaxy might be illiterate, based on the fact that virtually no media of any kind is ever seen or consumed by any of the characters in any of the films.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-citizens-of-the-star-wars-galaxy-are-probably-totally-illiterate

This article should probably not be taken TOO seriously, but it's an amusing perspective.

In our games, for example, we had a character whose Obligation was tied to a "holovid star", basically a famous movie star. I decided that for the most part, this performer was part of a troupe of actors who travelled from planet and planet and performed live productions, similar to a Chinese opera troupe travelling on the rivers and doing opera at the various ports.

This just seemed to me to fit better with the idea of media in the Star Wars galaxy.

The old WEG adventure journals actually had little holonews reports in the fluff section. They way they did it was with multiple feeds. Imperial holovision reports were what you'd expect from a place loaded with compnor agents. Trinebulon news was largely in line, though would skirt the issue sometimes by reporting alliance activity as local pirates, or separatists, or religious fanatics, so not wholly accurate, but more so then IHV. And then your pirate broadcast like cynabar would be more anti imperial, but tend to let their opinions leak in a lot.

If you ever watched Babylon 5 you have great examples on that show of news networks reporting for different planets and even rebel news outlets in the later season being broadcast from B5 with Ivanova as the lead anchor. I imagine the Imperial Holonet news to be very much like news as it was depicted in Starship Troopers.

I always viewed it as communication outside of high end military stuff travels relatively slowly. A transmission from the Core to the Outer Rim taking days or weeks unless you have access to the super high tech stuff, in which case you can hold a real time conversation.

So news transmissions would move slower than the speed of ships moving through Hyperspace.

So there wouldn't be any life coverage of events, but more like the equivalent of telegrams and newspapers in the 1800s. Telegraph would be nearly instantaneous, but most people had to rely on mail or word of mouth.

So the most up to date stuff would be stuff that was fairly local, within a couple Parsecs. And lag time increases as you go further out.

There are some ideas at the back part of the Galaxy Guide 9. "Fragments of the rim" chapter 11. They had other news agencies. TriNeblulon news, NovaNetwork, Imperial Holovision (Pro Imperial) and Galactic Weekly NewsStack

I used the Galactic weekly newsStack in my game, as basically a tabloid page worth of headlines, some imperial related, some Rebel related, a technote, and some local stories, relating some in game event, or even forshadowing in my game

The Fate of the Jedi series had a subplot about a young holonet reporter and her news crew crusading against slavery. I thought it make a good game scenario

Welcome to our world of madness!!

Here is a little piece I did a long time ago, and one that I will definitely re-appropriate for my currant campaign. Feel free to use it, or modify if anyone wants to. Oh, also, you have to imagine James Earl Jones reading the tagline!!!!

You’re watching BNN

Bothawui News Network.

An Explosion rocked the city of Kal’al’dec today. A Biotech Industries plant was the subject of what is now being called a terrorist attack. Investigations have revealed that an anti New Order group calling them selves “Freedom Fighters of the Old Republic” is taking credit for the incident. A huge ball of flames came tearing out of the Biotech Plant, causing an estimated 4.5 million credits worth of damage and 157 confirmed deaths, and 458 causalities. The head manger for the plant has reported “that all analysis equipment was working and that all systems were green just moments prior to the explosion.” Traces of bodninium have been found at the site, an unusually concentrated, volatile explosive used in the making of thermal detonators. The Biotech plant makes Bacta-tanks, medical equipment, and other medical supplies. It is also one of the distribution points in the Core Worlds for Bacta. Also Imperial Governor Hashert Romindama has declared Bothawui is in a state of emergency. He is asking that everyone return to their home at sundown for their own safety. Also, no ships are being allowed to land or depart from any port on the world at this time. The Governor has been quoted as saying he does not believe this state of emergency to last more than a day or two. “ I will not let these so called freedom fighters burn fear into our hearts and terrorize us into making us fear for our lives every day! The people responsible for the heinous crimes against the benevolent world of the Bothans, Bothawui, and that of the entire Empire will be brought to justice and made to pay for their actions!”

Next on BNN, we recap the core world championship shockball tournament! See you all after this word from our sponsor: Biscuit Baron; start your day with a Bantha Breakfast Biscuit!

Is it just me, or does every body promote the Biscuit Baron? And why wouldn't you. I miss Bungo and Rusti...

My problem is that I don't know how these news should be properly conveyed, as the HoloNet has been completely taken over by the Empire - and even if it hadn't, my guess would be that the Outer Rim would not have a proper access.

Instead I was thinking about something like a local virtual newspaper that could be read at a console or "on-demand" video news (just like todays news websites). But does non-imperial press even exist during that time period?

I keep it simple and just assume it's pretty much what we have today. The Holonet is just a carrier (like the internet), not a content provider. Like the Chinese government, the Empire monitors the carrier for content it doesn't like, but they can hardly check every weather report or sportscast. Doubtless they have their official new sources that get priority, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have "net neutrality"

If you want to put in a delay for the Outer Rim that wouldn't necessarily hurt. Nothing wrong with even making "latest broadcasts" a tradable resource: somebody might head to the Core, save up the last week of broadcasts onto a data pad, then run it quickly to Tatooine and sell to the highest bidder. Local buyers will load it into their version of their planetary internet, charging advertisers, etc. It would be an economy all its own.

Still, personally I wouldn't make too much of this "delay" stuff unless players really want to dig into the specifics and economics of it. Organizations like Black Sun or the Hutts or any major corporation with far-flung resources is going to want to have that instantaneous communication, and if the Empire doesn't want to share bandwidth they'll just make their own and put in their own relays, at that point they'll sell access to recoup the cost and make a lot of money.

Like the Chinese government, the Empire is going to be pretty good at stopping most of what they don't want people to think about, but nothing is perfect...if it were, the Rebels would never have gotten anywhere.

I see it as a little like the Old West with planets equivalent to old towns. The Holonet appears to be controlled by the Empire and their fleet and command centres have reliable "telegram" and can place "phone calls" for senior officials (hologram conversations). For most though, the news is local and the bigger stuff travels more slowly. Remember that transmissions in Star Wars are not radio. They can't be - it would take years for a message to get between even very close star systems if using radiowaves. Whatever the Holonet and ship-to-ship communications are, they are not the Internet or radio. They seemed to be bandwidth limited with patchy holograms and frequent fall back to delivering large messages or data in person (Death Star plans spring to mind).

So for me, mass media means local news stations that will broadcast local news (this planet and any in-system neighbours) as well as any particular galactic news that is of special interest that has reached them and which they will re-broadcast for the locals.

So Wild West with TV in the towns rather then newspapers, but still the same speed of dissemination between settlements.

Thanks a lot for the great answers, I'll definitely borrow some of these ideas for my adventure.

There's an interesting article suggesting that the majority of people in the Star Wars galaxy might be illiterate, based on the fact that virtually no media of any kind is ever seen or consumed by any of the characters in any of the films.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-citizens-of-the-star-wars-galaxy-are-probably-totally-illiterate

This article should probably not be taken TOO seriously, but it's an amusing perspective.

Even though I find the idea very intriguing I fear it would make things unnecessarily complicated.

It might be really ambigous in G-Canon, but for EotE it is mentioned in the description of the "Education" skill that even in the Outer Rim worlds reading and writing are basic skills taught to children. Of course 0 skill points in education and 1 intelligence could still make your character an illiterate.

Holonews under the Imperials...I think it would look something like this.