Mobile-First News: Lessons from Gazeta Wyborcza & News24
- News organizations are adapting to the rapidly changing digital landscape, with artificial intelligence and mobile-first strategies taking center stage.Leaders from Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza and South Africa's News24 ...
- Roman Imielski, first deputy editor-in-chief at gazeta Wyborcza, detailed the newspaper's transition to a digital-first model.
- Gazeta Wyborcza implemented several key strategies, including a flat organizational structure, providing journalists with data analysis tools, and rewarding subscription growth.
Explore how newsrooms are mastering digital shifts with mobile-first strategies, key for staying relevant in today’s media landscape. Gazeta Wyborcza and News24 reveal actionable insights into AI adoption and audience engagement. discover how these leading publications are transforming their operations for enhanced digital presence. News Directory 3 offers a deep dive into the strategies that are driving success.Learn how these mobile-first approaches are reshaping content delivery and subscriber growth. Discover what’s next for the future of news consumption.
Newsrooms Navigate Digital Transformation with AI and Mobile strategies
Updated June 13, 2025
News organizations are adapting to the rapidly changing digital landscape, with artificial intelligence and
mobile-first strategies taking center stage.Leaders from Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza and South Africa’s News24
shared their experiences at the 76th World News Media congress in Krakow, highlighting the importance of
innovation and audience engagement.
Roman Imielski, first deputy editor-in-chief at gazeta Wyborcza, detailed the newspaper’s transition to a
digital-first model. Established in 1989, Gazeta Wyborcza boasts 300,000 online subscribers and 3 million
monthly unique users. Imielski noted that over half of their revenue now comes from digital sources, a
notable shift from print.
Gazeta Wyborcza implemented several key strategies, including a flat organizational structure, providing
journalists with data analysis tools, and rewarding subscription growth. They also launched audio articles using
AI from ElevenLabs to attract younger audiences and reduced article output by 30% to focus on quality over
quantity.
“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,”
Imielski saeid.
Adriaan Basson, editor-in-chief of News24, discussed the evolution of South Africa’s largest news site from a
110-year-old newspaper company. News24, a subsidiary of Media24, initially published print content online for
free, a decision Basson now regrets. Today, News24 has approximately 120,000 paid digital subscribers, while
Netwerk24 has 100,000.
News24 restructured to prioritize digital, closing print titles and integrating them into existing online
publications. Basson emphasized the importance of quality journalism regardless of format and embraced data-driven
strategies, providing reporters with access to dashboards showing the impact of their stories.
“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,” Basson said. “What is important is that there are still journalists
who can probe,and investigate without