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May 06, 2008

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Democracy Now! Bids Farewell to Denis Moynihan, DN!’s Longtime Outreach Director, Now CEO of Free Speech TV

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Over the past five years, Denis Moynihan has overseen the remarkable growth of Democracy Now! Today, DN! airs on over 700 public radio and TV stations. Denis is moving to Denver today to become the CEO of Free Speech TV. [includes rush transcript]

Guest:

Denis Moynihan, outgoing Outreach Director at Democracy Now!

Rush Transcript

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AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, I want to wish a very fond farewell to a longtime Democracy Now! staff member, family member, Denis Moynihan, outgoing outreach director of Democracy Now!, joined us years ago.

And you know that every day on Democracy Now!, we say Democracy Now! is broadcasting—well, now the number is at 700—on Pacifica and NPR stations, low-power FM, college and community stations, on public access TV and PBS TV stations and both TV satellite networks, DISH Network Channel 9415, Free Speech TV, 9410, Link TV, and on DirecTV Channel 375, and we’re video and audio podcasting online, and our headlines are available in Spanish. Well, the remarkable growth of Democracy Now! can—we can really thank Denis Moynihan for. He has been the person who has been spearheading the outreach to stations all over this country and the world.

Denis now goes from being outreach director of Democracy Now! to CEO of one of the networks that we broadcast on, and that is Free Speech TV. Denis, welcome to Democracy Now!

DENIS MOYNIHAN: Thank you very much, Amy. Well, I’m sure there’s a rule out there: never leave a job you love. And I’m guilty of doing that this week, moving to Denver to run Free Speech TV.

But there’s really kind of a moment in time now, when the US media system with the digital transition—and this is something that’s a bit complex. The spectrum is being reorganized, and the television broadcasters are going to have to move their transmitters from analog to digital. And Free Speech TV, as the oldest progressive, non-commercial television station in the US, has a role to play in that, and I’m just hoping to help shepherd that channel on to this new opening.

The digital transition in television is going to create new channels, so where one channel exists now, there will be up to four. And this is particularly important with public television channels. They’re going to have—you know, wherever you tune in now and you get your one channel, there’s going to be four. The public television stations are going to be looking for content for these channels, and the currency of that transition really is the full-time channel. If you have a full-time channel, you can present it to the stations. And so, at Free Speech TV I’ll be doing that, hoping to expand the audience and the reach of important programs like Democracy Now!

It’s happening next February. And you’ll be hearing more about it out in the kind of the consumer world, where your choices on what kind of TVs you buy and whether you can get a converter box. And it’s really an important moment.

And being here for so long, learning the independent media movement, seeing it grow and expand, with you and with Juan Gonzalez and the whole staff here, has been a remarkable experience. But there has to be a full-time channel that fills the role, and I think Free Speech TV, as you know, has been carrying Democracy Now! live, distributing the show to hundreds of cable outlets, is perfectly suited, and I hope to engage the public in bringing this channel to a wider audience.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Denis, a huge thank you to all that you have done over the years. Those two words are not enough, but the fact that you continue in the independent media world, it is not our loss, it is definitely Free Speech TV’s gain, though. And it is wonderful that the independent media movement is large enough in this country that so many people can circulate through it. Denis, you’re flying off now to Denver to take on that role later today. Have a very safe journey today and in the coming days. We look forward to working with you. And thanks so much for everything. Denis Moynihan, outreach director and now CEO of Free Speech TV.

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