Free Speech TV (FSTV) is an American progressive news and opinion network. It was launched in 1995 and is owned and operated by Public Communicators Incorporated, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1974. Distributed principally by

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California, El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary ...

, and the network's live stream at freespeech.org and on

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduce ...

, Free Speech TV has run commercial free since 1995 with support from viewers and foundations. The network claims to "amplify underrepresented voices and those working on the front lines of social, economic and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justice ...

," bringing viewers an array of daily news programs, independent documentaries and special events coverage, predominantly from a progressive perspective.

History

1995–1999

Free Speech TV is an outgrowth of three projects that attempted to establish wider dissemination of progressive perspectives on television: , a landmark television series seen on public television and cable; The Channel, a network of seven full-time cable channels dedicated to independent media; and the part-time Free Speech TV Program Service, launched in 1995 as an innovative approach to curating and distributing independent media to a distribution network of community access cable stations. Public television stations carried some Free Speech TV's special series, such as ''Just Solutions: Campaigning for Human Right''. The network's pioneering efforts in streaming media online won it accolades such as a 1998 Streamers Award and 1999

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

2000–2006

In January 2000—as the result of an FCC-mandated public interest channel set-aside—Free Speech TV became a national, full-time channel on the

satellite television system while continuing to build a national network of part-time local cable affiliates. Program highlights from the channel's formative years included live field reporting of the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globali ...

spawned at the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle; the 2000 US presidential elections, including ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González (journalist), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, whi ...

''s premiere as a television program at the Republican and

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

conventions; the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, to which FSTV responded with a daily news report and weekly current affairs program; and extensive coverage of the large global anti-war mobilization and the subsequent U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

2007–2010

In 2007, FSTV moved from Boulder to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, covering events inside and outside the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The conve ...

, where

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

accepted his party's nomination for president. Over the following years, the network stepped up its daily coverage of national politics with the addition of ''GRITtv with

Laura Flanders Laura Flanders (born 5 December 1961) is an English broadcast journalist living in the United States who presents the weekly, long-form interview show ''The Laura Flanders Show''. Flanders has described herself as a "lefty person". The brother ...

'', ''

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' and Al Jazeera English. FSTV's daily news programs—led by ''The Thom Hartmann Program'' and ''Democracy Now!''—became FSTV's top programs in terms of popularity and "stickiness" (a measure of audience engagement and loyalty). During the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econom ...

, FSTV pre-empted much of its regular non-news programming to Al Jazeera English's acclaimed reporting from Cairo's

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Ca ...

and other locations. In 2008, the network piloted its "eStudio" at the

National Conference for Media Reform The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) is the largest conference devoted to media technology and news in the United States. Sponsored and presented by the media reform organization Free Press, the conference brings together activists; stu ...

, where it broadcast and streamed conference plenaries, workshops and special interviews conducted by

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupati ...

, Laura Flanders and Jeff Cohen. Since then, FSTV has taken its eStudio on the road, broadcasting exclusive live coverage from the One Nation March, the Netroots Nation conferences, Take Back the American Dream Conferences, talks held by ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' and

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, the Homelessness Marathon and the annual conventions of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

SEIU Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

and the LOHAS Forum.

2011–2012

In 2011 and 2012, FSTV coverage provided a window into efforts to reform workers' rights in Wisconsin and other states, as well as into the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to the ...

movement. To facilitate a national dialogue about growing economic disparities, the network produced ''Occupy the Media'', a weekly, live, call-in program that featured frontline activists, policymakers and those bearing the brunt of economic injustice. The series offered a national television platform for many of our peers in progressive radio, print and online journalism. FSTV served as the broadcast hub for national May Day coverage coordinated by The Media Consortium in 2012. The network secured a national channel on

in 2010; piloted its first OTT ("over-the-top") channel, on Roku, in 2011; and launched full-time cable channels in Burlington, Vermont, and

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ce ...

, in 2012. The website www.freespeech.org was redesigned to better support online video and aggregated content, and the network stepped up its social media engagement on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

and other sites. FSTV and GM Jon Stout were the recipients of the 2010 National Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award, presented by the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a major international membership organization for Academia, academics in the field, offering regional and national Academic conference, conferences and refereed publicat ...

. This award recognizes individuals and organizations for "a profound commitment to free expression; ethics; media criticism and accountability; racial, gender, and cultural inclusiveness; and public service." Past recipients include

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

George Seldes Henry George Seldes ( ; November 16, 1890 – July 2, 1995) was an American investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, editor, author, and media critic best known for the publication of the newsletter ''In Fact'' from 1940 to 1950. He was a ...

Molly Ivins Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) was an American newspaper columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist. Born in California and raised in Texas, Ivins attended Smith College and the Columbia Univers ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

Nina Totenberg Nina Totenberg (born January 14, 1944) is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her reports air regularly on NPR's new ...

, and

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral hi ...

2013–present

In 2013, FSTV started conferring with public television stations to gain over-the-air and cable carriage in major urban markets. Mobile apps for smartphones and tablets are in development. The shutdown of the progressive channel

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...

and its replacement with

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jaze ...

had major ramifications on the network. In August 2013 Free Speech TV lost its popular '' Al Jazeera English News Hour'', '' The Stream'' and ''

Fault Lines In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectoni ...

'' shows when Al Jazeera launched Al Jazeera America. The news programming was replaced with news from

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...

. On September 9, 2013 Bill Press joined the channel with his simulcast of ''

The Bill Press Show William H. Press (born April 8, 1940) is an American talk radio host, podcaster, liberal pundit and author. He was chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996, and is a senior political contributor on CNN. He hosts ''The Bill P ...

'', which moved over from the defunct Current TV. In January 2014 the channel added '' The Stephanie Miller Show'', also from the defunct Current TV after a successful Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to build the show's new radio/TV studio, buy equipment and produce the show. This reunites the former Current TV morning block on Free Speech TV. In October 2013 Free Speech TV and Karel.Media in association with Brandon Riley Miller Productions launched "Karel's Life In Segments" starring openly gay, history-making entertainer and former KFI AM 640 Los Angeles and

KGO AM 810 KGO (810 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and owned by Cumulus Media. KGO operates with 50,000 watts, the highest power permitted AM radio stations by the Federal Communications Commission, but u ...

Host

Charles Karel Bouley Charles Karel Bouley, known on-the-air as Karel (pronounced ka-REL), is an American entertainer, talk radio host, singer, TV personality, stage performer, journalist, and author. He began his career as a comic and vocalist with 1995's album "Danc ...

. The show would pioneer the format of reality-talk, a new hybrid half-hour that takes characters and issues in the day-to-day life of a daily talk show host and turns them in to entertaining and informative talk segments set either in studio, in Karel's home or around his home of Long Beach, California. The show has also gone on location internationally including Ireland for Season Three.. The show entered its fourth season as a weekly member of the programming lineup in 2017 with a fifth season being planned. In October 2014, Free Speech TV launched ''

Uprising with Sonali Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

'', featuring Sonali Kolhatkar in partnership with

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conce ...

station

KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves Southern California, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet. It was the second of five stations in the non-commerc ...

-FM, Los Angeles. Uprising Radio was the longest running daily morning show on Southern California public radio before premiering as a television show on Free Speech TV. The show is the first ever national daily news show hosted and produced by an immigrant woman of color, Sonali Kolhatkar. In recent years, FSTV's television footprint has grown to more than 40 million homes. The network's monthly viewership (cume) nearly doubled to more than 1 million households over a two-year period between 2012-2014. The closing of Current TV and the accumulation of its popular radio shows and audience combined with the movement of MSNBC out of the progressive sphere have partially contributed to the trend.

Funding

Free Speech TV is a project of Public Communicators, Inc., a non-profit, 501c3 tax-exempt organization FSTV is supported primarily through philanthropic contributions from thousands of viewers and from foundations dedicated to independent media and social, economic and environmental justice.

Availability

FSTV is currently available in more than 40 million television homes nationwide, airing full-time on Dish Network (9415), DirecTV (348), Burlington Telecom (122) and Ashland Home Net (96). Select programs are syndicated on 177 community cable stations in 40 states. FSTV is also available as a 24/7 linear feed and as videos-on-demand—on freespeech.org and on Roku, an "over-the-top" distribution platform that streams video over the Internet onto connected television sets. FSTV also has a feed on the

Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor a ...

service. Other content is syndicated on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...

and other social networking sites.

Programming

Free Speech TV broadcasts syndicated news programs and documentaries that deal with social, political, cultural and environmental issues. Independently produced news programs broadcast on FSTV include:

News

* ''

'' - Award-winning news coverage from

and Juan Gonzalez. * '' France 24 World News'' - A one-hour news program from

. * ''

The Last Sip ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' - Current events program with Imara Jones, focusing on women and

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

, with an emphasis on

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2 ...

* ''

'' - News program that emphasizes connecting global issues with local ones and hosted by veteran broadcaster

Sonali Kolhatkar Sonali is a popular Indian female given name. Persons * Sonali Bendre (born 1975), Indian actress * Shonali Bose (born 1965), Indian filmmaker * Shonali Bhowmik (born 20th century), Indian-American musician * Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, India ...

. * ''

Source Code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

'', stylized as ''SourceCode'' -

News magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...

(TV show) launched in 2007

Talk shows and radio shows

* ''

The Thom Hartmann Program Thomas Carl Hartmann (born May 7, 1951) is an American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator. Hartmann has been hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, ''The Thom Hartmann Pro ...

'' - A daily call-in news and Leftist political program with author and host

Thom Hartmann Thomas Carl Hartmann (born May 7, 1951) is an American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator. Hartmann has been hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, ''The Thom Hartmann Pr ...

, based in

Portland Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous cou ...

. On Fridays, it includes ''Brunch With Bernie'' - A one-hour talk segment with Senator Bernie Sanders. * ''

'' - A Liberal nightly news program hosted by

. * '' The Stephanie Miller Show'' - Syndicated Liberal talk show hosted by

Stephanie Miller Stephanie Catherine Miller (born September 29, 1961) is an American political commentator, comedian, and host of '' The Stephanie Miller Show'', a Progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles, California, by WYD Media Management and sy ...

. * ''

'' - Liberal morning talk show. * ''

The David Pakman Show ''The David Pakman Show'' ''(TDPS)'', originally ''Midweek Politics with David Pakman'', is a progressive news talk show currently airing on television, radio, and the Internet, hosted by David Pakman. The program first aired in August 2005 o ...

'' - A daily call-in news and political talk program hosted by Pakman from

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

. * ''

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring ...

'' - Liberal morning talk show hosted by Mike Papantonio * '' The Randi Rhodes Show'' - Liberal morning talk show hosted by

Randi Rhodes Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' ...

. * ''The Rick Smith Show'' - American working class talk show hosted by Rick Smith * ''The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow'' - Progressive radio and TV show hosted by Richard "RJ" Eskow. *

Other programs

* '' Gay USA'' - A weekly news program dedicated to gay and LGBT issues and news, hosted by Andy Humm and Ann Northrop from

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behin ...

. * ''OpenLine Media Presents: News With Davy D'' - A news program hosted by historian, author, rapper and talk-show host Davy DMX. * ''

Bioneers Bioneers, under its parent foundation, Collective Heritage Institute, is a nonprofit organization based in New Mexico and California that promotes practical and innovative solutions to global environmental and bio-cultural challenges. Founded i ...

'' - Interviews with personalities involved in social and scientific developments in sustainability. * '' Pirate Television'' - Offers talks, interviews and documentaries about independent voices. * '' Enviro Close Up'', - Hosted by Karl Grossman * ''Every Church Is A Peace Church'' * ''Occupy the Media'' * ''Meet the Farmer'' - Hosted by Michael Clark * ''Chicago Independent TV'' - Produced by Chicago

Indymedia The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seattl ...

* '' Rox'' - in the early days of Free Speech TV, this was "the network's most popular show." * ''

The Empire Files Abigail Suzanne Martin (born September 6, 1984) is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website ''Media Roots'' and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which ...

'' - documentary and interview series hosted by

Abby Martin Abigail Suzanne Martin (born September 6, 1984) is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website ''Media Roots'' and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation whic ...

. * ''Act Out'' - "Covers the news corporate media won't touch", hosted by Eleanor Goldfield

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Free Speech Tv American public access television shows Television networks in the United States English-language television stations in the United States Freedom of speech in the United States Public television in the United States Progressivism in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1995 24-hour television news channels in the United States

History

1995–1999

2000–2006

2007–2010

2011–2012

2013–present

Funding

Availability

Programming

News

Talk shows and radio shows

Other programs

See also

References

External links