AAN Publishers is excited to announce the first 2026 cohort of our new Tech Stack Checklist program, designed to help member newsrooms identify and close the gaps in the technology that powers their online publishing.
Thirteen AAN member publications are taking part in this inaugural round: Valley Sentinel, East Bay Express, Santa Fe Reporter, Baltimore Beat, Bucks County Beacon, Denver Westword, Pacific Sun, Newsberg, Rockton-Roscoe News, Athens County Independent, North Coast Journal, Georgia Voice, and Seven Days.
Together, these newsrooms represent a wide range of markets and revenue sizes, from small independent outlets to publications generating millions per year. All share the goal of building a stronger, more sustainable digital foundation.
The Tech Stack Checklist program pairs each publication with a dedicated coach for a hands-on, comprehensive review of its tech stack. Participants complete a detailed questionnaire, and their coach runs a series of tools to test site performance, email deliverability, security, and more. From there, the coach and publisher sit down together to talk through priorities, and the coach delivers a written report with clear recommendations — flagging what needs attention right away, what should be addressed in the near future, and what can be planned for further down the road.
Once a publication has its report in hand, its team puts together a brief plan for how it intends to use grant funding to address the identified gaps. After that plan is approved, the publication receives a $5,000 grant funded by the Google News Initiative to help close those tech stack gaps and, in many cases, explore new avenues for digital revenue.
“We’re pleased to be able to bring both this technical expertise and the grant dollars to allow them to cut down on costs and generate new digital revenue with their publisher’s online presence,” said Todd Stauffer, executive director of AAN Publishers.
Congratulations to this first cohort — we look forward to sharing more about their progress as they put their plans into action.
