Lana is a forward-thinking media brand built to challenge expectations and redefine how news is created and consumed across the MENA region. From the outset, its goal has been to offer an alternative to traditional Arabic media, serving a pan-regional audience with topical, interactive content that feels current, relevant, and accessible.
With ambitions to scale quickly and engage readers through multiple themed categories, the team at Lana recognised early on that a standard CMS wouldn’t be enough to support their editorial goals. They needed a custom solution that would reduce production friction, support flexible layouts, and give editors greater control over how content appeared across a broad range of stories and styles.
To realise that vision, Lana partnered with Big Bite to deliver a scalable, intuitive platform – complete with integrated AI tools and RTL (right to left) styling – tailored to the demanding pace and rapidly evolving needs of a digital-first newsroom.
Flexibility in every block
Using WordPress’ Full Site Editing (FSE) capabilities, we built a flexible, block-based platform that gives Lana’s editorial and design teams complete control over layout and presentation, without relying on developer time. From navigation to footers, every part of the platform has been constructed with reusable blocks, enabling teams to adapt and structure content with ease.
FSE also allowed for the creation of a custom brand asset library, where predefined fonts, colours, and components can be applied consistently across Lana’s themed categories. This is especially important for the brand’s colour-coded verticals, where elements such as backgrounds, logos and typography vary depending on the news category being viewed.
By pairing editorial flexibility with a structured design system, we delivered a scalable solution that reduces production overhead and gives Lana greater control over how its stories are shaped, styled, and shared.
Being able to manage specific features ourselves and drastically cut down the time required to implement new ideas has been, and continues to be, absolutely key for long-term platform management.
Matt Amlot, General Manager @ Lana
Custom features for real-time storytelling
Alongside the core platform, the Lana publishing setup offers a rich array of custom features designed to increase audience interaction, improve localisation, and support real-time publishing.
Programs
This video-first feature supports short-form visual storytelling across themes such as culture, tech or politics. Using a custom taxonomy, editors can group and tag clips by series, giving readers a viewing experience more aligned with social media formats.
Polls
A block-based tool that allows teams to embed interactive polls directly within articles to spark reader engagement. Editors can configure visuals to align with brand styling, add context via imagery, and choose how results are displayed. Polls can be manually or automatically ended, while backend access ensures easy reporting and visibility of results.
Breaking news ticker
Built for urgent or high-priority stories, the breaking news bar draws immediate attention and directs readers to full articles. A simple but powerful feature to support time-sensitive publishing.
Location hubs
A dynamic tool that ties stories to specific regions, allowing readers to access news relevant to where they live. Editors can assign and create location tags within the article editor, which automatically generate dedicated regional landing pages that can be further enhanced as needed.
Enhancing editorial flow with MediaPress
As part of the wider solution, Lana is benefitting from features within MediaPress – the WordPress plugin suite developed by Big Bite in collaboration with leading global publishers. With built-in support for ad management and live news, Lana can monetise its platform and deliver rolling updates across its homepage or key sections.
The Authors extension within MediaPress also provides significant editorial flexibility, allowing multiple or guest authors to be assigned per post. With default author settings, teams can streamline publishing without needing to continually manage contributor profiles, which is ideal for fast-paced environments.
These features give Lana the editorial capabilities of a large-scale newsroom, without the technical bloat.
AI tools to inform, guide and engage
Lana’s new CMS also harnesses the power of AI to support its mission of accessibility and innovation. Key features include:
Text to speech
A built-in audio playback option that lets readers listen to stories on the homepage or within articles. This boosts accessibility and caters to users who prefer audio formats, without disrupting editorial workflows.
AI article summaries
Designed to improve productivity, this tool generates concise summaries and key takeaways from full articles in seconds. It’s fully integrated into the editing interface, and tied to Lana’s pre-publish checklist, ensuring content is always optimised before going live.
What’s happening today
Positioned on the homepage, this feature offers an audio roundup of the day’s top stories. Editors can customise intros, outros and sponsor mentions, providing added value for both audiences and commercial partners.
New to this topic / learn more
Using Google Gemini, this block-based tool offers contextual explanations of complex terms or references. It allows editors to guide readers through unfamiliar topics without disrupting the article’s flow, enhancing comprehension and trust.
Weather updates
Located on regional landing pages, weather widgets pull live data via API and display tailored forecasts based on either user location or editorial tagging, offering an added layer of local relevance.
Big Bite’s AI implementation has been a game-changer for Lana. The team clearly understand how to make AI practical and valuable for real users, not just impressive on paper.
Matt Amlot, General Manager @ Lana
The impact behind the interface
Lana’s new platform has already transformed the way content is produced and published across the newsroom. With streamlined workflows, editorial autonomy, and a suite of interactive tools, the brand is well-positioned to scale its output while maintaining consistency across themes and formats.
Crucially, the new setup creates space for continued innovation. From AI-supported editing to on-page interactivity and localisation, the platform now gives Lana the flexibility to respond to reader needs and experiment with new formats, without adding technical complexity behind the scenes.
