Tyrphanax said:

Wouldn't the Empire be offering rewards for tips on Jedi/showing them being brought to "justice" on newsfeeds throughout the galaxy? One of the Rebels trailers shows a Jedi being captured, for instance. You'd think that Luke would have seen at least one of these things when he went into town, even on a backwater nothing planet.

I dont see any hint in the OT of any kind of intergalactic network system. There is no PNN (Palpatine News Network). In the deleted scenes, Biggs has to tell Luke what he's seen in the inner systems. There are no reporters. No one has a cell phone. Greedo goes to the local bar to find Han, he doesn't look him up on ScoundrelBook.

Even the PT shows this. Queen Amidala has to physically fly to the capital to explain what's going on. They don't just flick to the GoogleNaboo app. The Trade Federation denies it.

All this strongly implies that mass communication in the SW universe is difficult, inconvienient, and not generally a priority.