Detroit, Feb. 14, 2008 - Renowned journalist Nick Clooney will speak on Monday, March 3 at Wayne State University's Center for the Study of Citizenship (CSC). The event, "Citizen Media and the Civic Journalist," is free and open to the public and will take place at 7 p.m. at Wayne State's McGregor Memorial Cultural Center.

Clooney, host of AmericanLife TV's "Moments that Changed Us," will discuss the civics of traditional and new journalism, alongside Dan Gillmor, director of the Center for Citizen Media at Arizona State University. Both veteran newsmen offer insight into the state of professional journalism, how news is collected and disseminated, and how the boundaries between citizen and journalist often overlap.

CSC's director Marc Kruman explains, "The global nature of citizen-produced media does not recognize established, traditional borders, which is why we need to talk about contemporary definitions of citizenship and what it means to be a journalist today."

This is the fourth program CSC has sponsored under its 2007-2008 theme, the Boundaries of Citizenship, a year of events which have included the Annual Citizenship Day and Constitution Day Lecture, a corporate citizenship symposium, and a panel discussion on virtual citizenship. The year will conclude with a visit from CSC's Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Michael Hardt, and the 5th Annual Conference in Citizenship Studies, in late March. This is the first time CSC has collaborated with WSU's Department of Communication, co-sponsor of the event.

Vital communities require engaged citizens. The Center for the Study of Citizenship strives to be the premier global institution dedicated to the interdisciplinary study and promotion of engaged citizenship in order to stimulate, advance and sustain such communities. Toward these ends, the center fosters the study of citizenship as an interdisciplinary academic field and creates a forum to stimulate and shape public discourse about citizenship.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 12 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.