Success stories
Several cities have Hearken-powered series at "competing" outlets (radio and newspaper, or radio and TV, etc.). And even when the new kids came to town and launched, the existing partners still had strong and successful series, even as the new kids also saw successful launches.
Exhibit A: Chicago! WBEZ Curious City (where Hearken was born) came first. Then along came Chicago Tribune a couple years later, which began collecting questions around specific beats. Even with the Tribune also collecting and answering questions, Curious City continued to receive a steady stream of questions, answer them, and sell sponsorship again their series. (Last we heard, Curious City sells about $100K per year in underwriting.)
Exhibit B: Austin! KUT had ATXplained (a local curiosity series) and TXDecides (a statewide politics series). Even after Texas Tribune launched with Hearken (also statewide politics focus) and Austin American-Statesman launched with Hearken (local curiosity series), KUT still continued to rock it. Even though a “competitor" sprung up for each of their projects, they still get tons of questions. And both Austin American-Statesman and Texas Tribune saw successful launches and continue to receive great questions from their own audiences.
Key truths to remember
Curiosity is a renewable resource. You are not competing for a finite amount of something. There will always be more questions than answers, and new questions springing to life daily.
Your audiences are different. Imagine the Venn diagram of each newsroom's audience. How much do you think they overlap? There are still *a lot* of people in the areas that don't overlap.
Even if by some chance you both end up pursuing the same question, your produced answers will be unique because you have your own question-askers. Including their stories in your work is part of what shapes your work in such wonderful ways.
If you get a question that someone else has answered, you get to still serve that audience member by sending them that link if you want. Ditto, if another newsroom gets a question you already answered, they can drive people to your work. You're all doing this in service of your audience.
Tips
Don't ignore each other.
If another newsroom is collecting questions on a similar topic as you, see if there's a way you can collaborate on an event or something that would benefit both of you.
If another newsroom has answered a question you receive from your audience, either send that audience member a link to that story and invite them to ask you any follow-up questions, or answer the question yourself but acknowledge in the piece that someone else has also answered it (as you would with a scoop).
Focus on what makes the most sense for your own audience.
Invite questions on topics you know your audience is interested in, regardless of whether someone else is inviting questions on the same or different topics.
Put questions up for a vote to receive your audience's guidance on which questions they are most interested in. That group of people will be looking to you for that answer (especially if they left their email address with you), and will appreciate you focusing on what they want and need.
Learn from each other, but this isn't about keeping-up-with-the-Joneses.
As journalists, you're likely going to be curious about how it's going on the other side of the fence. That's natural. But refrain from starting something new just because it looked cool when someone else did it.
A rising tide lifts all ships, so if you can establish a line of communication where you both share what you're learning, that will help both of you serve your audiences better.
Last words
You're all doing this work in service to the audience, and by having more newsrooms do this, it means more community members are getting answers to their questions, and feeling listened to and served.