The news gets there first

The lawsuit was filed and the news reached the papers before the comedian was even served. Within hours, everyone knew the figure by heart. At the paper that broke the story, a copy of the claim went from hand to hand until it stopped going anywhere. Not every row and column has to be occupied.

Suspects

• Augusto, the night editor: He chose the headline with the full figure. He says "a million" on its own wasn't enough.
• Benvinda, the legal affairs reporter: She got the claim before anyone else. She won't say from whom, which is how it's done.
• Clemente, the camera operator: He filmed the claim in close-up for the news video. All you could see was the number.
• Dilermando, the back-page columnist: He wrote a column saying he would never write about it. It was the most-read column of the month.