Is there any large news network/channel in Eorzea?

[Big_Panda]

Are people generally aware of major events happening outside of their own cities?

Were people aware of the beast tribe primal summoning? Or is it kept hush-hush by the GC while they wait for WoL to show up?

I recall working with two NPC who happen to be journalists. I just can not remember whether they represent an actual newspaper or an Eorzea life magazine.

[Zojha]

There is no overarching network channel in Eorzea, however, the City States do have newspapers - or had anyway.

The Harbor Herald is a newspaper published in Limsa Lominsa, The Raven the counterpart of Gridana and the Mythril Eye the counterpart in Ul'dah. There are still promotional fireworks for them that you can get via PotD and you can read the old issues on gamerescape to get a glimpse on how informative they were and what their reach was.

There hasn't been any new issue since the calamity, so that might indicate that they are no longer a thing in universe, but it might just be that they simply didn't feel like continuing making them.

[CaesarCV]

The different newspapers are most definitely still present in universe. In addition to the remaining references regarding the fireworks and th elike, they are worked into several quests and events. Ellie from the Hildibrand plotline is a reporter from the Mythril Eye, for example. In addition, reporters from the various ragsheets appear in several different sidequests and the like. It's unknown how great their reach is, but it can be assumed that the people do learn of many Primals. This is, of course, not counting special cases like Phoenix or Thordan I, who were specifically hidden away.

[Anonymoose]

There hasn't been any new issue since the calamity, so that might indicate that they are no longer a thing in universe, but it might just be that they simply didn't feel like continuing making them.

So that wasn't really a reporter for The Raven who dragged me to Rabanastre to save some kid's dad last week!?

What kind of scam did I fall for!? ... Oh, gods, I've gotta warn Cid!

<voice trails off as he runs away> This is Tsuyu all over aga...

[Zojha]

So that wasn't really a reporter for The Raven who dragged me to Rabanastre to save some kid's dad last week!?

No it wasn't. You walked right into the next imperial trap!

It was the white raven all along.

[Annana]

Isn't it also a reporter for the Raven in the Heavensward Botanist questline? Plus many event quests are handed out by the various newspapers of Eorzea.

[YianKutku]

Isn't it also a reporter for the Raven in the Heavensward Botanist questline? Plus many event quests are handed out by the various newspapers of Eorzea.

Mujih Mewrilah, yes. The sister of Lina Mewrilah, the alleged reporter (also for the Raven) who introduces you to the Prima Vista.

Both sisters share a penchant for over-dramatization of articles and fondness for the Eorzean equivalent of clickbait, so I don't actually know what the writing team thinks reporters are actually like. (Most of it is just the usual mind-numbing tedium of trying to get as much coherent and fact-checked details for a story that we have to put out in time before the editor yells at us. Again.)

The lorebook also has brief descriptions of the three major newspapers of the starter city-states, on page 189 (at the very end of the section on the city-states in general). In summary, Limsa Lominsa's Harbour Herald has the greatest breadth of knowledge, especially in international affairs, due to Limsa's position as a major port. Ul'dah's Mythril Eye has the most accurate and well-researched articles, mostly focusing on market and economic news, for obvious Ul'dahn reasons. The Raven has the fastest and most frequent news updates, presumably because the lore team wanted to complete the trifecta of journalistic goals and Gridania was the only starter city-state left.

No idea what newspapers Ishgard has, but they probably do have at least one, since their middle-class and higher population is relatively well-informed. (And post-HW, a representative parliamentary democracy still requires an informed populace.) Sharlayan probably also has some means of mass media as well, although I would not be surprised if it was more akin to an extremely dry news ticker rather than anything with opinion pieces.

Garlemald definitely has mass media, which is de facto controlled by the government. It would make sense for the major news organizations to be state-run, but even if they aren't, the government can easily control them simply by holding the purse-strings. Hence the official positions of Imperial Censors (title "goe").

[swiss_Momo]

Mujih Mewrilah, yes. The sister of Lina Mewrilah, the alleged reporter (also for the Raven) who introduces you to the Prima Vista.

Both sisters share a penchant for over-dramatization of articles and fondness for the Eorzean equivalent of clickbait, so I don't actually know what the writing team thinks reporters are actually like. (Most of it is just the usual mind-numbing tedium of trying to get as much coherent and fact-checked details for a story that we have to put out in time before the editor yells at us. Again.

You'll even get an extra line of dialogue if you've done the HW botanist class quests

[LineageRazor]

trifecta

To be fair, BOTH Mewrilah sisters didn't even think twice before setting out to another city (one halfway around the globe!) to get the scoop, which seems to be dipping pretty far into the Harbour Herald's "international affairs" territory. Either they're unusually ambitious for Raven reporters, or we can be relatively safe in assuming that all three newspapers do try to get stories outside of their own territories.

I think it's likely that all three newspapers do keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening worldwide. The Harbour Herald might be better at it, I guess...

[Alastair_Helyous]

I think, on Primal summonings, its safe to assume that the people are aware of them. However, it is clear through the Summoner questline in HW that people may not know details about it.

When an NPC encountered Ifrit-Egi, it described it as a "monster" and seemed unable to make any connection with it and the Primal. He didn't recognize Ifrit in it. Either he simply couldn't see that it is part of Ifrit (since it still remains some key traits of it, like horns, claws, fire, spikes...) or he simply doesn't know what Ifrit even is like.