On Wednesday, July 10 in room B-1 of the Massachusetts Statehouse a joint committee will be discussing House Bill 181 at 2 p.m.

The bill would establish a commission to study the state of journalism, particularly in underserved communities in the state – basically those “news desert” areas.

If you care to testify please make yourself known before the start of this hearing. I believe you will have to sign in.

Much has been written about this bill, some critical of the proposed composition of the committee itself.

Thanks to our friends at DigBoston, this second hearing was scheduled after the first one was poorly advertised.

You can read the following if you want to familiarize yourself with the bill before attending or testifying:

CommonWealth Magazine: Lawmakers: News business needs state help
DigBoston: Proposed state journalism commission needs broader membership
The Boston Globe: Mass. legislators propose government commission to examine journalism industry
WBUR: Beacon Hill looks for ways to help local journalism 
WGBH: Proposed state commission would study the local news crisis and what to do about it