When I was a kid I used to wonder what the public thought with regard to what happened to Anakin.

The buildup around Episode III made it seem like Anakin was a sort of celebrity to the people of the Galactic Republic. You have to figure that many wondered what happened to him.

I guess it was assumed he died in the Jedi Purge.

One of the problems with the prequels was the lack of involvement of the general populace, especially the people on Coruscant.

I always felt that the Holonet news should have been used in the PT in some way (a few direct scenes, or maybe just playing on some screens in the background during a few of them) to help convey the mood, the feelings people were dealing with during the Clone Wars.

I would've done it like a daily news program with maybe one humanoid and one alien news anchor. Think Futurama. Another obvious use for it would be pure exposistion.

I think it would have gone a long way to generating some real emotional resonance. This was something that was clearly (and sadly) missing from the PT.