‘The biggest revolution that I had to go through in my own mindset was that ultimately, it’s not about the format; but it’s about the journalism. We don’t know on which platforms our journalism will be published in the next three  to five years. What is important is that there is still journalism; that there are still journalists who can probe and investigate without fear or favour.’
– Adriaan Basson, News24, South Africa

Two decades after digital technology changed how news is produced, consumed and distributed, newsrooms are still grappling with the implications – and facing a new challenge with AI adoption and implementation.

News leaders from Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza and South Africa’s News24 shared their digital transformative journeys – with learnings on how to power up for an AI-savvy, mobile-first, digital native audience – at WAN-IFRA’s 76th World News Media Congress in Krakow.

Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland: Read over manipulation

Roman Imielski, First Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Gazeta Wyborcza, illustrated how Poland’s first independent newspaper adapted to the digital age with a focus on innovative journalism and audience engagement.

“Revolutionary from the beginning,” Gazeta Wyborcza was established in 1989 and now has a national and 20 local editions; 250 editors and journalists, 300,000 online subscribers, and 3 million unique users monthly.

Thanks to a digital-first strategy, implemented in 2014 with a meter paywall, more than 50% of revenue is derived from digital sources. A good thing, because: “Twenty years ago print circulation was at half a million; right now it’s only 35,000.”  

What they did

• Gazeta has a flat structure to avoid silos, with one team for both print and digital
• Journalists and editors have access to data analysis tools
• A reward system for subscription growth
• Launched audio articles with AI tools developed by ElevenLabs to engage younger audiences who prefer audio content over articles
• Significantly reduced the number of articles published by 30%. “We publish more than 200 articles, or even 250 articles per day in 2023; right now, we are publishing only 150 – and I think it’s still too many: My colleagues at Le Monde, a similar newspaper to Gazeta Wyborcza, publish only 100 per day.”

 The next frontier

• Launched a new “3 for 1” subscription offer in two weeks, ahead of Poland’s recent presidential election.
• Develop new content and engagement formats, including video and short-form content for younger audiences.
• Collaborate with the government to create digital education initiatives for young people and boost digital literacy in Poland to combat misinformation and promote the value of journalism in society.

“We have to build new relations with audiences, and we should work with state institutions on good digital education from every age. We cannot talk about media literacy without collaboration with the government.”

News24, South Africa: How a 110-year-old newspaper company became a digital publisher

South Africa’s largest news site – and largest subscription publication – News24 is a subsidiary of Media24, itself a part of the now multinational Naspers Group.

The Group’s first  product was De Burger, launched in July 1915 and published in Dutch.

“The newspaper was the cornerstone of a company later dominated by newsprint magazines, book publishing, schoolbook publishing… anything that that had to do with paper,” says News24 Editor in Chief Adriaan Basson.

The company expanded dramatically over the years, adding TV and pay TV to the bouquet, to become a global tech and e-commerce giant with assets in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

In 2000, it made big strides into digital. “Then, we started to publish what was in newsprint online. We now realise that it was a mistake to give it away for free, and we’re still paying that hefty price.”

Today, News24 – launched in 1998, is a fully digital, mobile first publisher with about 120,000 paid subscribers and Netwerk 24 has 100,000 paid subscribers.

“We have a much larger audience now in digital than what we ever had in newsprint.”

What they did

• Restructured company: Closed iconic print titles and moved them into existing digital publications. “We had to bring focus. We had a newspaper division with its own boss, its own administration, its own, etcetera, magazines, digital books, distribution, printing locally and TV today much more consolidated at the beginning of this year, our company was restructured again. We now have a media division with its own TV division and a books division.”
• Embraced digital: Media24 flipped the mindset switch that quality journalism only belongs in newsprint, and converted journalists to digital.

“The biggest revolution that I had to go through in my own mindset was that ultimately, it’s not about the format; but it’s about the journalism. We don’t know on which platforms our journalism will be published in the next three to five years. What is important is that there is still journalism, that there are still journalists who can probe, and investigate without fear or favour.

• Scaled – and bundled: “We’ve quickly realised that scale is the way to go in digital – and we simply couldn’t start little paywalls for each of these publications. So about 10 years ago we bundled our digital brands; News24 in English and Netwerk24 in Afrikaans.

• Data-driven strategies: “We believe that data should be democratised and transparent, so we have dashboards; access for even the most junior reporter to see how their stories have contributed to acquisition, retention, churn, etc, on our pages.

• AI and Tech: Integrated and experimental: “The way we use AI is to build our own internal analytics tools, but we also use external providers.”

The next frontier: Embracing AI, tech – and collaborations with immersive storytelling

News24 has now established an AI Lab comprising editors, journalists, product managers and developers.

“AI and technology is still very much a transformational journey; we use AI in various shapes and forms in our newsroom – like transcriptions, summaries, audio articles – but we have completely embraced technology, and we try to improve and enhance our storytelling.”

Basson illustrates this with News24’s visual investigation Final Footsteps: The Kirsten Kluyts Murder, a collaboration between the investigative team and the provider of 3D modelling and drone footage to produce an immersive experience into the 48 hours around day of the murderer.

“We didn’t have the capacity to create this, but we partnered with a technology company – and found that they are keen to partner with journalists. They actually love the storytelling that we do, and they really want to help tell these stories with us. So I would encourage you all to find these partners, even employ them in your companies.”