Introducing LiberalViewer (Allen Asch) from CAP

Written by: Cathlyn Daly on Jan 25, 2007 4:54 PM EST

Linked to groups: Capitol Area Progressives (CAP)

From: Capitol Area Progressives (CAP), Sacramento, CA

One of our very own, Allen Asch has been featured several times in the Sacramento Bee. Below is the latest article about Allen Asch and his YouTube postings. We're very proud of him! Take time out to watch his videos on YouTube...you'll love them!

Here it is:

Media Savvy: Liberal viewer is watchingA stay-at-home dad's snarky postings on politics and media are a YouTube hit.By Sam McManis - Bee Staff Writer

Last Updated 4:38 pm PST Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page E1

Print | E-Mail | Comments (5)

Check out LiberalViewer's YouTube postings by clicking here.

By now, we've all had time to snicker at Time's selection of "You" as its person of the year and to prepare mock acceptance speeches as we stare narcissistically into the magazine's mirrored cover.

Still, humorless media traditionalists may scoff: Honor those get-a-life YouTubers who post videos of Mentos and Diet Coke experiments, and of friends badly lip-syncing songs?

 

But that's not it at all. If you want to understand the thinking behind why the editors at Time -- and others -- believe that user- generated content is transforming the media landscape, allow us to introduce you to a Sacramento man who could proudly bear the person of the year mantle.

He goes by the YouTube user name LiberalViewer, but in real life he is Allen Asch, 41, a stay-at-home dad and a former public defender in Placer County and Missouri. He's also done some pro bono legal work for the American Civil Liberties Union.

These days, when not taking care of his 6-year-old daughter, he spends time in his LiberalViewer persona, bloviating via YouTube about the news of the day and the mainstream media's coverage of same.

He produces the videos on his laptop and records the narration in his bedroom closet so he can be "surrounded by soft clothes to get the right sound. A friend who's a DJ taught me that."

So what started as a closeted endeavor has turned into a public activity with a burgeoning fan base.

In six months, LiberalViewer has posted about 60 videos that range from two to six minutes in length. He takes clips from news programs that he records on TiVo -- sources span the ideological spectrum from Fox News Channel to C-SPAN to "Democracy Now!" with a heavy dose of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" mixed in for comic relief -- then adds voice-over commentary, graphics and, in the margins outside the video, extensive sourcing for all his opinions.

Each video begins the same way, with the voice of his daughter announcing, "The LiberalViewer presents ..." followed by the subject covered. After making his points, the videos always wrap up with two questions for the audience to mull.

Then the upload ends with this clever closing: "I YouTube, You Decide," after which his daughter gives a playful giggle.

Now, you might think the influence of this anonymous vlogger would be nil in the amorphous world of YouTube, which gets about 100 million views a day.

But LiberalViewer's videos have been viewed 881,489 times (as of Monday morning) since he began his endeavor in July. He has 1,578 subscribers, and the user-comment section is packed with passionate opinions for and against his points of view.

Among the subjects -- some weighty, some wacky -- that LiberalViewer has tackled are the Supreme Court hearing free-speech cases, religious hypocrisy by Christians and Muslims, a deconstruction of President Bush's "surge" speech, a sincere tribute to the troops on Veterans Day, a look at Karl Rove's Svengali-like influence in the White House and coverage of the Sacramento radio station's water-drinking contest that resulted in a contestant's death.

His most pointed commentary is reserved for the media.

LiberalViewer has taken Fox News Channel to task for what he considers deceptive editing of interviews to warp a subject's meaning. He's mused about the blatant product placement in ABC's docudrama "The Path to 9/11," and he even used extended coverage by Sacramento's own Channel 3 (KCRA) of a cat stuck in a tree to lament the victory of "soft news" over real reporting on local TV news.

"I didn't plan to be here when I started (the videos), so I'm not really sure where I'm going with it," Asch says. "It's strange what's happened. I even have a couple of groupies who are really into my videos and post all sorts of comments."

One big fan is Anthony Raymond, a YouTube user from Plymouth, N.H., who says in an e-mail that he stumbled onto LiberalViewer's videos two months ago.

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Location: Sacramento, CA