Michelle is an intern who will not dare object if Al cuts out all of the salient facts from her story since she'd do anything to get a job that has a paycheck attached. (It should be explained that the staff of the Castleford Herald-American is actually very good at reporting the news of our four-town area of two hundred thousand people—that is, as long as an unfavorable news story doesn't affect one of Al's fraternity brothers from Dartmouth or anyone serving on the executive golf committee at the Castleford Country Club.)
