Freedom Galactic News was a newsfeed established during the later years of the Galactic Civil War by a group of journalists committed to preserving their autonomy from the governments of the day.
Freedom Galactic News operated from deep space, and was based aboard the Hearst, a modified Class VI freighter. The headstrong attitudes of the team members often resulted in clashes in the confined environment of the ship, and the old ship's limited power output meant that she could not broadcast while under way—a drawback for a team whose motto was Be Where The Story Is Happening.
Nevertheless, in a short time, the agency became one of the best-known in the Galaxy, renowned for its coverage of events on the Outer Rim.
- (c. 65 BBY–). The Alderaaniancaptain of the Hearst was a passionate fan of the holodramaSpace Track; affectionate but fatherly, he treated the crew and production team as a surrogate for the family he had lost in the destruction of his homeworld.
- (c. 20 BBY–). The freighter's young, loudmouthed Corellian navigator wore loud, fashionable Core Worlds clothes that coordinated with his unabashed arrogance.
- (c. 35 BBY–). Known as "Crude" (as in oil), the engineer aboard the Hearst was a cigar-smoking Verpine, and a rare example of a solitary member of his species. He had no time for strangers—or for the rest of the crew, either. His true love was the ship's drives, although, judging by the contents of his toolbox, they really were held together with spit, chewing-gum and bailing wire.
- (c. 22 BBY–). A scoop-hungry reporter with something to prove—namely, her independence from her father, the 's mogul Graham Fleitcher; her quarrelsome character disguised the fact that she was the brains of Freedom Galactic News.
- (c.49 BBY–). A high-living veteran reporter, and sometime lover of Geraldine Fleitcher; although he successfully passed himself off as a Coruscanti aristocrat, he really grew up his father's remote homestead on Tatooine.
- (c. 13 BBY–). Known by the strange nickname "Ilm," the newsfeed's one-man technical army was energetic, impulsive, and perhaps rather vain. His ambition was to some day find himself in front of the camera, and to win fame as the presenter of his own top-billing show.