The Sacramento Bee, Calif., Media Savvy column: Liberal viewer is watching.(Column)

Publication: Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA)

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COPYRIGHT 2007 The Sacramento Bee

Byline: Sam McManis

Jan. 23--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...

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