Management Team

Launched in 1995, Free Speech TV is an independent, publicly-supported, non-profit TV multi-platform digital media pioneer. Using both television and the Internet, Free Speech TV inspires viewers to become civically engaged to build a more just, equitable, and sustainable society. Free Speech TV is owned and operated by Public Communicators, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization, founded in 1974. Free Speech TV is based in Denver, CO.

Eric Galatas
Program Director
Galatas has been leading Free Speech TV programming and production initiatives since June of 1998. In 2000, he produced the first daily televised broadcasts of “Democracy Now!” at Presidential Conventions in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, alongside the nightly 90-minute Indymedia production “Crashing the Party,” hosted by Laura Flanders. In 2008, he led Free Speech TV's first co-production effort, “GRITtv with Laura Flanders.” Galatas produced groundbreaking multi-city election coverage with Amy Goodman and Laura Flanders in 2008, and again during the 2010 mid-terms adding David Sirota as co-host. Also in 2010, Galatas brokered a deal to bring Thom Hartmann and Al Jazeera programming to Free Speech TV viewers. Galatas has produced live multi-hour telecasts from the The Homelessness Marathon, The U.S. Social Forum, The National Conference for Media Reform, Netroots Nation, and Take Back The American Dream. He was a co-founding organizer at the first Independent Media Center during the WTO “Battle of Seattle” in 1999. Before joining Free Speech TV, Galatas produced 48 episodes of “Citizen Vagrom,” a grassroots videoZine, and spent two seasons on production for the Emmy-Award winning MCA/Universal television series “Northern Exposure.”

Gail Gonzales
Business Manager
Gail joined Free Speech TV in June 2008, and is responsible for overseeing the network's financial systems, business operations, and human resource management. She also provides business support for several social justice/social service organizations, including the Colorado Progressive Coalition, Denver Inner City Parish, and Howard Dental Center, an organization providing low cost dental service to adults and children living with HIV/AIDS. Gail both graduated from and taught at the Escuela Tlateloco, an acclaimed community-based private school, developed in the late 1960's to cultivate academic proficiency, cultural pride, and leadership among Latino youth. She has performed with Ballet Chicano de Aztlan. Following in the footsteps of her father, the late civil rights pioneer and poet Rudolfo "Corky" Gonzales ("I am Joaquin/Yo soy Joaquin"), Gail has been a long-time grassroots organizer with the Crusade for Justice, one of the most influential institutions of the Chicano movement.

Nathanael Reeder
Operations Director
Than joined Free Speech TV in January 2001, and is responsible for designing and managing the network's broadcast and Internet infrastructure. He is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, has attended the National Association of Broadcasters convention for the past five years, and is currently studying for a Broadcast Technologist Certification program through Cleveland Institute of Electronics. Than has worked closely with the relief organization started by his family, Friends of India, operated by The Shanthimalai Research and Development Trust. Their accomplishments include building three schools, two hospitals, and conducting numerous relief and training initiatives. Than enjoys all the latest technical gadgetry, reading, skiing, and world travel with his wife Noreen and their two year-old son William.

Don Rojas

Executive Director

Don Rojas joined Free Speech TV in 2009, and is responsible for leading the organization's evolution and growth.  An internationally-renowned journalist and communicator, his distinguished career spans over 30 years as a newspaper editor, general manager of a major New York City radio station (WBAI-Pacifica), the first communications director of the NAACP, media manager at Oxfam America, Internet publishing pioneer (The Black World Today) and former press secretary to the late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop of Grenada. Mr. Rojas has lived, traveled and worked in the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He has edited four books on Caribbean and Central American political movements, has taught journalism at Long Island University in New York and has lectured on subjects ranging from the political economy of the Caribbean to the struggle for a new international information order at universities in the USA, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.  A budding chef, Don claims to make the best banana pancakes west of the Mississippi.

Jon Stout
General Manager & Co-Founder
Jon joined Free Speech TV's predecessor, The 90's Channel, in November 1994 as its Program Director. His initial charge was to develop the next evolution of that project, which led to the launch of Free Speech TV in 1995. As General Manager, Jon is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the television and web projects and for managing the finances of Public Communicators, Inc.. His previous positions include Executive Director of Los Angeles Filmforum and Publicist for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. Jon was a Fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Program, and he has been a founding board member of Working Films, a board member of Boulder Community Television, and an affiliate of Berks Filmmakers. Jon has served on nominating/funding panels for the Independent Television Service, Annenberg Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowships, the American Film Institute, and United States Artists. Jon loves backpacking and kayaking with his wife Arianna and their two young sons, Sylvan and Farryn, who tolerate his fiddle-playing at home.

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