Task 2 - "Breaking News" by Irina

Irina Hinova

Breaking News

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[SparkReports theme tune]

[Camera 2]

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to SparkReports – the most trusted name in news. I’m Sland Gosper. Stay with us as we try to get to the bottom of the political scandal that has shaken the Cabinet. It is rumoured that some Ministers may hand in their resignations by the end of the week.

But first let us try and go back to the beginning of this story and find the actual causes of the scandal, which started with last week’s fiasco at Miss Cosmetics. This is what the chief manager of the contest Robert Pattison told us:

[Video no. 53.17- Robert Pattison interview]

“So, Mr. Pattison, tell us how it all happened.”

“From the beginning we were prepared, we knew just what to do, for hadn’t we seen it all a hundred times?—the good people of the town going about their business, the suddenly interrupted TV programs, the faces in the crowd looking up, the little girl pointing in the air, the mouths opening, the dog yapping, the traffic stopped, the shopping bag falling to the sidewalk, and there, in the sky, coming closer – the huge majestic sequin-covered pageant platform – descending graciously onto the main square. As always, we had kept the time of the event in absolute secrecy. Nobody knew the exact time or venue – would it land on the main square, or the stadium, or float on the lake …”

“Yes, right, but was there anything different in the rules this time? It’s said that some of the girls knew there’d be a change and reorganized their daily beauty routines to follow the new fashion trend, but they had little time to get the desired results. Perhaps there was a leak?”

“No, no, no, everything was as in previous years. The candidates for the title Miss Cosmetics were expected to lead their usual lives and follow latest fashion trends and were called for the show only two hours before it started. Nobody had expected it would… turn out like that.”

[video no. 72.00 –Miss Cosmetics contestants interview]

“I’ve been preparing for a whole year, you know. Fashion magazines, latest products, first row in all Fashion Guild shows – cause they set the trends, you know. I felt ssso disappointed, my heart like broke, you know, cause just 30 minutes before we went on stage, we were just lining up to fly up on the platform, you know…Oh, it’s so hard for me to take it…”

“All I can tell you is – like… half an hour before the show this bloke, Robert Somebody, he just came in and went ‘You’re all totally disqualified. The latest trend in tan is orange and you’re all mauve or pink ivory.’…apparently the Fashion Guild had just… like issued a totally new fashion trend. I was like how could they do this to me! That was totally uncalled for, I did everything…”

[studio]

[Sland Gosper on camera 3]

“As you can see, Ladies and Gentlemen, the girls are all devastated. The only one who had somehow anticipated the new trend was Anna-Sui Redmond, her tan was impeccably orange. Being the only contestant, she was crowned Miss Cosmetics according to the rules of the contest – the one closest to latest fashion trend wins. Since she is the daughter of Celeb Redmond, the Minister of Greens, Education, Gardens and Greenish Garments, rumours about corruption led to the launch of an official investigation. Miss Redmond said in her father’s defence that her orange tan was casued by a fault in the sunbed at her beauty salon. She added that the fault was discovered too late for her to have a tan repair and because of that she had fallen in a deep depression and she had learned about the new fashion trend only when all the others did. Nevertheless, Mr. Redmond is accused of using classified Fashion Guild emails, to which he had access as an official, to his daughter’s advantage. Another fact that fuels suspicion is his Garden project. Here’s what he said yesterday on the phone to our reporter:

[Recording no. 45.07 – Redmond interview]

[Redmond photo on screen]

“Mr. Redmond, why did you choose orange for your project? Our sources say you had to order extra paint for the trees and you even exceeded the ministry budget. There are also rumours about ministry officials selling orange paint on the black market days before the announcement about the new trend… ”

“Well, we had all these children out planting trees, see, because we figured that ... that was part of their education, to see how, you know, the root systems ... and also the sense of responsibility, taking care of things, being individually responsible. You know what I mean. And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died.”

“But why exactly orange, who gave you the information?… [The line is dropped.]

It seems the connection failed…”

[studio]

[Sland Gosper on camera 1]

It seems there is trouble in store for Mr. Redmond. The Cabinet is soon expected to issue an official statement…

***

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn’t clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, “Ladies and gentlemen – ” and then the camera stopped. TV screens went gray. But that bothered no viewers because they had flown out of their homes with the same speed and urgency as the TV presenter and the whole SparkReports crew had left their places, followed by the cameramen and everybody else down to the cleaners and the night watchman. For the news had pierced the whole town like a lightning – two major cosmetic factories - Bêtise sans arrêt and À la folie, had closed down because of a power failure due to bad management by the Ministry of Energy, Electronic Music and Elegance. People were lining up in front of cosmetic shops to buy large supplies of beauty products because with the political crisis already under way, nobody knew when cosmetics production would be back to normal. And with all the orange-tinted bronzants and eye-liners already in stock, God forbid the Fashion Guild issue a new trend.