In hindsight, perhaps it all started with the news of a hanging, that of Afzal Guru, convicted for the 2001 attack on Parliament, on the morning of February 9. All day, it was ‘breaking news’ on TV news channels, including the recently revamped DD News, with new sets and spiffy anchors brought in from rival, private channels to enable the Congress-led UPA to showcase its best face in the run-up to Elections 2014. Coverage of Afzal’s hanging was, in a way, a test of its motto: ‘Television news and analysis with a refreshing perspective: sharp, sensitive, substantive.’