The ecology of contemporary journalism is experiencing a power shift from traditional media such as newspapers and TV news to social media. This shift is bringing a crisis of professional journalism in the traditional media and the emergence of public journalism based on social media. The aim of the thesis is to find a new spatial medium, a broadcasting station, to reformulate the function of professional journalism through a systematic friction with public journalism in the process of broadcasting news production.

Dynamics of the public and professional sphere

Among phases of a news production, there are three parts that overlap with a realm of public journalism ongoing in a social media: news coverage, news review, and news footage. In these parts, the professional journalism can attract the participation of public journalism and collaborate with it. On the other hand, news editing, news control, news anchoring, news graphics and news technique are still the sphere that only professional journalists can fulfill. Therefore, in order to reformulate the function of professional journalism, the news production process needs to be re-categorized based on the feasibility of participation and collaboration. The project consists of four main parts: (1) the public circulation, (2) the hybrid sphere of both the public and professional journalism, which has mainly the journalistic friction between them, (3) the professional journalism sphere, and (4) the broadcasting facility.

Frictionscape

The new type of publicness for the project is defined by the “frictionscape” which means the artificial landscape that generates the continuous friction of the old and new journalism. The “frictionscape” is designed to formulate moments that the workplace of professional journalists are exposed to the ecology of public journalism at three spots through an entire circulation: between (1) a news coverage room as a professional sphere and a street typed platform as a public realm, (2) a news review room and a plaza typed platform, and (3) news footage rooms and a theater typed platform.

Tectonic interface

The precast concrete platform is an “environmental interface”. The arrangements of the platforms create various topological relationships of the journalistic friction such as collision, superimposition, and penetration. These topological relationships become physical environments for the systematic friction. On the other hand, the combination of wire mesh as a space divider, steel cable as a structure, and LED panel as a displaying material generates a “surface interface” for media performance. Even though the basic function of media screen is displaying journalistic images and information uploaded by the professional and public journalists, its main role is to complete the friction in a tangible level. Every type of the friction originates from the interactions between the two different forces, and the media screen.

Conclusion

The synthesis between the logic of systematic friction and the logic of new journalistic landscape derived from the tectonic interfaces is utilized as the foundation for the construction of an institutional building generating optimal alternative journalism.