The network claims to "amplify underrepresented voices and those working on the front lines of social, economic and environmental justice," predominantly from a progressive perspective.

[1] In 2007, FSTV moved from Boulder to Denver, covering events inside and outside the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where Barack Obama 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,[2] The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann and Al Jazeera English.

During the Arab Spring, FSTV pre-empted much of its regular non-news programming to Al Jazeera English's reporting from Cairo's Tahrir Square and other locations.

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.

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."

[citation needed] 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.