By Clark Mason
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Assemblywoman Patty Berg seems an unlikely person to have a video on YouTube, but the 65-year-old grandmother is embracing a Generation Next approach to get her message across.
Berg, a Democrat from Eureka, is one of a few California Assembly members making videos about their own legislative bills and posting them on the Internet.
"They said 'We're going to put you on YouTube.' I said 'What's YouTube?' " Berg said.
The videos are on her official Assembly Web site as well as YouTube, where they compete for attention with millions of subjects, ranging from movie clips to television shows, sports footage and music videos.
Among such diverse topics as Britney Spears, amateur teens dancing and streakers at the Super Bowl, visitors to the video-sharing site can now find Berg doing her one-minute spot for the senior assistance bill she introduced earlier this year. Or, there's her pitch on her proposed legislation to ensure that out-of-state doctors can help in California in the event of a disaster, such as last week's Southern California fires.
Politicians, including the major ones in the presidential race, use YouTube as an outlet to advertise their positions. But the most-watched videos are often the ones posted by opponents, showing gaffes or a candidate's contradictory statements.
That may be why Berg's two videos posted last week had garnered only a half-dozen hits each by Wednesday afternoon, while adjacent to hers, Patty Loveless' music video had more than 15,000 views.
"The real question is who sees it and who uses it," said Barbara O'Connor, a communications professor and director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State University.
O'Connor said that for something to "go viral" on YouTube -- i.e. to gain a huge audience -- it has to be "unique, interesting, funny, referred to by a mainstream source, or a blog that's widely read. Otherwise, there's way too much material on YouTube to have it be functional."
While she questioned the efficacy of trying to publicize public policy on YouTube, O'Connor commended Berg for giving it a try and predicted other members of the Assembly will follow suit. "If she's doing this, others will," O'Connor said.
Berg cut her one-minute videos at a production facility run by the office of Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles.
The office typically produces video news releases with Democratic caucus viewpoints that are disseminated to cable and television stations.
Both the Democrat and Republican caucuses produce partisan video messages, usually opposing or supporting high-profile legislative initiatives. And some of those videos are also on YouTube, including press conferences, interviews, committee hearings or someone speaking in Legislative session.
But Assembly members doing videos on their own pet bills has been limited.
"I think she's out on the lead on this. I know she's not the only one," said Will Shuck, Berg's chief of staff.
Matt Reilly, head of the Speaker's Office of Member Services, noted that Berg has one of the biggest districts in the state, stretching from the Oregon border to Sebastopol. The new video approach, he said, is just one more way to keep her constituents informed.
In an age of TiVo, video-on-demand and the Internet, "I think people are thirsty for this type of thing," Reilly said. "There are other members doing it. Patty has been one of the most creative."
Berg jokes that she can barely use her BlackBerry and knows nothing about computers, so she's probably the last person likely to be out in front of the multi-platform media wave.
But she says, "We're starting to use Internet video to tell people about bills. I think it's exciting."