Three New Jersey Newsrooms Start Using Hearken, a Platform That Lets Audiences Choose Reporting Topics

Should newsrooms go straight to their readers to decide what to report on next? That’s the idea behind Hearken. The platform was founded by Jennifer Brandel as an expansion of WBEZ’s Curious City; that reporting project invites readers to propose and vote on story ideas.

Now three New Jersey newsrooms — Brick City Live (Newark), New Brunswick Today, and NJTV — are going to start using Hearken, in a collaboration backed by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Knight Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation.