Not sure what you mean by "a newspaper print something and deny it immediately in the same article?" If you're talking about the Editors Note, it heavily implies that Grendel was (either directly or indirectly) behind the reporters sacking ("we cleared the lovely Grendel Jinx immediately"). That sort of denouement in a British newspaper would get a reporter fired, Later on, the protagonist does state that Grendel is into extortion and blackmail.
As for jumping into the story - there are two introductory sections on the main menu, which should bring the player up-to-date with a) The Council and b) the story so far
I've always used the side image to denote the current speaking character, makes things easier overall. Might reduce the size of the side images though.
I prevent saving (easily at any rate) and rolling back at route choices, so that the player can't undo their choice. Saves are possible here, though - just need to manually access the game menu.