A group of professors from U.S. Arizona State University (ASU), led by Daniel Gillmor Jr, gave several lectures to students of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University (TSJC) on covering the Beijing Olympics on March 13.

Professor Gillmor shared his insights with Tsinghua students on Citizen Journalism and its role to the Olympic communications in his lecture “Citizen News and Olympic Spread”.

A recognized leader in new media, Gillmor is author of “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” a book that explains the rise of citizens’ media and why it matters.

As the director of Center for Citizen Media, a project to enhance and expand grassroots media and its reach, Gillmor has plenty of experience in Citizen Journalism research. The center is a joint project with Harvard University and the University of California.

From 1994-2005, Gillmor was a columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper, and wrote a weblog for SiliconValley.com.

At the forum, Gillmor was joined by his colleague, Professor Andrew Leckey. The first director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, Professor Leckey addressed the students on “Business Factors in Olympic News”.

Professor Leckey is a long-time syndicated investment columnist for The Chicago Tribune. He was previously a CNBC anchor and the first Director of the Bloomberg Business Journalism Program at the University of California, Berkeley.