Alton Kastle

"This is Alton Kastle for the only news you need: the HoloNet News!"

- Alton Kastle's catchphrase

Alton Kastle was a human male journalist who worked as a broadcaster on HoloNet News on the planet Lothal. As a broadcast journalist, he helped spread propaganda for the Galactic Empire, including propaganda about Wookiees and local unemployment rates. He was noted for being impeccably dressed. The Leonis family sometimes watched news broadcasts by Alton Kastle. While Leo Leonis believed the Imperial line, both Zare Leonis and Tepha Leonis came to learn that Kastle was a stooge who often delivered news that was either carefully manicured truth or entirely fictitious.

Biography
Alton Kastle was an Imperial broadcaster who was based on the planet Lothal during the Age of the Empire. In 6 BBY, he reported on the Westhills massacre. Kastle claimed that insurgents had destroyed mining equipment and attacked Imperial surveyors in the Westhills, forcing the Empire to send in troops to restore order. In truth, Imperial forces under Lieutenant Piers Roddance had opened fire on a sit-in demonstration by disaffected farmers who had lost their lands to an Imperial mining project. Zare Leonis and his friend Beck Ollet knew the truth but did not tell his parents, who accepted Kastle's account.

Between 5 BBY and 4 BBY, Kastle served as a newscaster for several Imperial HoloNet News reports including Lothal's new Imperial Registration Program, the suppression of a Wookiee revolt on Kashyyyk , reduced unemployment rates , the Empire's new affordable housing program , and a ban on unauthorized mining. While many Imperial citizens on Lothal like Leo Leonis accepted Kastle's reports, others like Leo's wife Tepha Leonis and son Zare Leonis regarded his reports as carefully manicured truths or fabricated propaganda designed to portray the Empire in a positive light.

Equipment
Because of his affiliation, Kastle wore a gray-blue variant of the Imperial uniform, complete with black boots, belt and gloves. However, he wore an Imperial media badge rather than a military rank plaque, had a Holonet News patch under the left shoulder, and carried two code cylinders on the left side of the chest. Alton Kastle was noted for being impeccably dressed.

Behind the scenes
Alton Kastle's voice first appeared in 2014, in the HoloNet News tie-ins to Star Wars Rebels. Alton Kastle was missidentified as Alston Kastle on two occasions in the young readers novel Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy that was released in October 2014.

Appearances

 * Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy
 * Droids in Distress (book)
 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy
 * Droids in Distress (book)
 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Droids in Distress (book)
 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal