Case Study: Scaling a Bilingual Newsroom at L’Orient-Le Jour

In a region rich with cultural nuance, L’Orient Today emerged in 2020 as a vital response to the growing demand for accessible, high-quality journalism in English. Launched to complement L’Orient-Le Jour, Lebanon’s leading French language news outlet, the publication set out with its own editorial mandate and distinct voice. As its work progressed, the team recognized the immense potential in drawing from the in-depth reporting already being produced in French. The mission was clear, to deliver journalism of the highest caliber, tailored to Lebanon and beyond’s diverse and globally engaged audience.

The Initial Challenge: Limited Output and Resource Constraints

Starting with a small team and a growing editorial workload, L’Orient Today initially faced production constraints. Translation capacity was limited to a handful of articles per day, which slowed the expansion of original reporting. As audience and content demands grew, the newsroom reached the limits of its initial setup. At the time, the transition toward a fully-functioning English-language newsroom involved several key challenges.

• Translation was time-consuming with the tools and processes in place, limiting output to just a few articles per day and constraining overall website production.

• Editors relied on AI tools outside the CMS and multiple decentralized platforms, slowing workflows and creating errors.

• Homepage updates were infrequent, with limited article turnover reducing both engagement and reader retention.

These issues exposed the newsroom’s capacity limits and highlighted the need for a more efficient, integrated system that could scale with editorial demand.

The Turning Point: Integrating Translation into the Newsroom

The shift came in 2024, when translation became a central part of its publishing process. By integrating GPT-based translation directly into the WhiteBeard News Suite CMS, the team could translate, format, and edit articles within a single platform.

• What once took two hours now took just 45 minutes to finish.

• Daily output nearly doubled to 16–17 articles, while the team also regained the bandwidth to publish 7–8 original stories per week.

The boost in efficiency was immediate and measurable.

According to Iva Kovic, Head of L’Orient Today, “The new workflow didn’t just streamline production, it reshaped the entire editorial structure.”

Measurable Impact

The majority of those stories go live within two hours of the original publication. For more sensitive or nuanced material, timelines are extended to allow for deeper editorial review, a balance between speed and care.

The team applies a hybrid model:

Straight-forward stories are handled through the AI-powered CMS feature, followed by a thorough editorial review.

Nuanced content, including opinion and literary pieces, is assigned to in-house translators, then fine tuned by editors.

“The tool’s reliability and ability to handle detailed formatting contributed significantly to workflow consistency and output quality,” said Tasneem Chaaban, Deputy Head of Translations.

Since implementing WhiteBeard News Suite, L’Orient Today has seen:

• 60% increase in weekly traffic

• 49% rise in subscriptions between March 2024 and March 2025

• The successful launch of four new content verticals in a single quarter

One standout feature has been the Prompt Manager, a centralized space where teams can create, test, and share custom prompt templates across departments.

“The interface made everything click together,” said copy editor Marguerita Sejaan. “Our editing workflow became faster overnight.”

Redefining the Newsroom: WhiteBeard’s Lasting Impact

With the new AI powered CMS handling much of the logistical and routine work, editors are able to dedicate more attention to the heart of journalism. Each piece undergoes a thorough review to refine clarity, tone, and cultural nuance. Translation, especially, is treated not as a simple transfer of words but as an editorial craft shaped by empathy, voice, and context.

By embedding powerful tools within an intuitive platform, WhiteBeard News Suite has enabled L’Orient Today to scale its output without compromising on quality. What was once a small, overstretched team has transformed into a dynamic bilingual newsroom: faster, more consistent, and fully aligned with its editorial mission. Today, L’Orient Today doesn’t just keep up with the news cycle, it sets the pace and redefines what’s possible for modern newsrooms in the region and beyond. With the right technology, even the most ambitious editorial visions can become reality, while also creating new opportunities and a framework that can be replicated in other languages.