And that provides an appropriate context for an admission: I had expected TV news to go over-the-top on the “justice for...” stories ever since the death sentence was handed out in the Mattoo case. Initial evidence — anchors and correspondents on NDTV, CNN-IBN, Aaj Tak editorialising on people’s joy and “feeling of safety” — seemed to suggest that the distinction between “my news” and TV news may get blurred. But major channels recovered the balance. There were stories, on CNN-IBN, for example, on whether we should react to death sentences on principle. Even when Ram Jethmalani asked on Friday for a shift of venue in the Jessica case, alleging prejudiced trial environment, there was a sense of proportion in reporting the story. Times Now reported the same day that the J&K sex scandal trial was to resume in Chandigarh. I thought Times Now missed a good and obvious story: the broad question of shifting trial venues by looking at the two relevant stories of the day.

Times Now did interview Jethmalani. I didn’t watch it beyond the first commercial break. But I am not complaining.