The messages really are almost no help. Some might tell you who is fighting whom somewhere -- e.g. the Corsairs and the Red Hessians, and then you can go over there and pick up some high paying bounty missions. But basically, the news broadcasts are just decoration. They may give you interesting background on a planet or system, and during the story line they fill you in on events. But you can't get any missions out of the news, except as I suggested.

Ah that stinks, would have loved to found that artist guy and get a reward lol. Thanks though for your reply.

That's not quite true. If you read the news articles thouroughly even in multiplayer, it essentially paints an accurate description of all the underlying tensions between the factions. Which is good to know for fixing reps with certain factions, taking missions, etc.