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A run of gloomy news -- more partisan disagreement on raising the debt ceiling, rising unemployment numbers and continued housing woes -- drove the economy to the forefront of the media agenda last week.

As the recovery appeared to falter, the U.S. economy accounted for 19% of the newshole during the week of May 30-June 5, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. That represented the biggest week for economic coverage since April 11-17, when the narrowly averted government shutdown helped to make that subject the focus of 39% of the newshole. The growing sense that the economic recovery has stalled invited the media to weigh the impact on President Obama, with analysts noting that his reelection prospects were not helped by last week’s news. The week’s No. 2 story was a related subject -- the 2012 presidential election -- that has slowly but steadily crept to the fore of the mainstream media agenda. Last week, attention to the race -- mostly focusing on the emerging and potential crop of Republican candidates -- accounted for 12% of the newshole, its biggest week of coverage yet.

Under a proposed rule, Medicare and private sector claims data could be used to produce public reports that evaluate the performance of physicians, other healthcare providers, and suppliers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is proposing to allow organizations that meet certain qualifications -- including having the capacity to process the data accurately and safely -- to have access, for a fee, to patient-protected Medicare claims data from Parts A, B and D. The Medicare information would be combined with private-sector claims data to identify physicians and hospitals that provide the highest quality care at the most cost-effective rates.

In America, according to the comedian George Carlin, there are seven words to avoid saying on television. In France, the equivalent list has just grown by at least two: “Facebook” and “Twitter.”

Like broadcasters elsewhere, French news anchors sometimes urge viewers or listeners to visit Twitter or Facebook to receive updates or to comment. In a decree issued last week, the regulatory agency that oversees French television and radio said broadcasters should not mention the names of specific Internet companies when doing so, calling this a violation of French rules banning surreptitious advertising.

[Commentary] Since its founding 25 years ago, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) has been a vocal opponent of consolidation in the media and telecommunications industries. A transaction may be compelling to shareholders or have an attractive economic rationale, but transactions that shrink a sector usually come at the expense of communities of color. Too often, what may appear to be “good” for a company is, in fact, bad for minorities. Thus MMTC has never affirmatively endorsed a proposed merger – until now.

This transaction is fundamentally different from past transactions because of what’s at stake – the future of wireless broadband. Mobile broadband is profoundly important in connecting minorities to the Internet. For 4G to be rolled out in a manner that is both swift and inclusive of minorities, broadband providers will require massive amounts of new spectrum to build 4G networks. The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile would help solve the spectrum crunch by putting this scarce resource to the most efficient and consumer welfare-enhancing uses. According to AT&T, this merger would give it “the scale, spectrum, and resources that will enable it to deploy LTE [its 4G network] to more than 97 percent of Americans, many of them in the rural areas and small towns most in need of greater broadband deployment and economic development.” The transaction would result in better wireless broadband connectivity in very large and disproportionately minority markets like Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, and Washington (DC).

In the absence of such a solution to the spectrum crunch, carriers may begin to raise prices in order to suppress demand for advanced services. There is another reason to be optimistic and enthusiastic about this transaction: AT&T has a long record of excellence when it comes to diversity and working to inclusion.

Thus the proposed merger warrants a departure from MMTC’s history of opposition to such transactions. The nation has robust wireless and broadband networks. But spectrum resources are quickly running out. The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile is a natural next step in the evolution of the marketplace. Done right, this transaction will be a boon to all consumers.