She is an excellent news reader and I for one congratulate her on her ability to earn 1,000.000 per annum.

gil, bristol, england

I'm minded of John Humphrey's comments when he appeared on on Desert Island Discs describing when he turned down the job of newsreader on the Six O'clock News - it's the most high profile job in television but you just sit there reading an autocue. It really is no job for a grown man or woman.

John, London, UK

Lipgloss news ! A bit of a joke really. But hey, who'd turn down a million to read an autocue !

Roy S, London,

Money is never a problem when you have it. The problem comes when you don't! 'I would have taken half' --- what a crass thing to say. 1 million or half a million pounds and in a year is more than the large majority of people in the UK will ever see or earn in a lifetime!!! I know I won't. This is an obscene amount being paid for someone just to READ the news. What the hell has happened to society?
IF

Ian Furniss, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Essex, UK

When you compare Natasha with someone such as Carol Barnes it shows what a travesty life has become.

I'm sad

C

Caroline , London,

Who cares. Most people with satellite watch Sky or Euronews anyway.

Malcolm, Guildford, UK

This is the level the news on TV has reached... notice the 'Channel 5 news with Natasha Kaplinski' title. This is just mediocre showbusiness, more about the personality than good journalism and newsgathering. She must be a real egotist to do this. This isn't real news... don't watch it folks, it's dross!!

Alanski, Edinburgh, Scotland

I don't want her to present topless, but then I am a woman - not a feminist particularly, but let's get this all into perspective and we will realise that all this hype and hoo-ha is because she is, after all, a woman!!!

Well, well, there ya go!

Jan, Sale, Cheshire

I wonder what her transfer fee might be?

John Szepietowski, Weybridge, UK

Leave her alone, she is doing what all of us would. Running after the money, even if that means leaving a good firm and better standards behind. However, it is obvious that the BBC itself is not the 'firm' it used to be.

I am particularly annoyed by their celebrity creating techniques. The series about ancestors and these worthless dancing programmes, for example. It is weird to say, but I feel a bit sorry for the BBC. And for myself. They spent OUR money on filling up these balloons and now a rich kid comes along and takes one of them. What we are left with is that pretentious Stephen Fry and that boring woman from Watchdog doing her little walks.

I like the remarks, dear Natasha made. It is not about money. It is not about ego. What is it then? Is she a fan and wants to watch every episode of CSI before it gets aired? Neh, I didn't think so. So it IS about money and ego. But again, who wouldn't be delighted to became the face of anything, letting alone a major TV channel?

Andras, Southampton,

What sort of news does a million buy you? That million was wasted on this viewer I can tell you.

Chris, Nottingham, UK

Five would be better advised to spend their money on entertainment programmes. The woman just reads the news not creates it. She is no better or worse than any other newsreader & unlikely to attract more viewers.

Marie Fitzsimons, Los Alcazares, Murcia Spain

On the face of it, £1m to read the news is crazy, but...

The reason that this salary could turn out to be astute is that it could generate for Channel Five more than £1m per year in viewing, advertising, custom and such like. We make this possible- we are a nation that is glued to the television and which revolves solely around consumerism.

The same can be said for the footballers who are paid £100,000 per week and most days only work up until lunchtime. It's because many Brits are fools enough to spend £75 on going to watch these high earners each week.

In most industries, a salary is unfortunately based upon how much money a person could earn for the company for whom they work; nurses, for example, do not make huge profits for the government despite the nobility of their profession- hence the low income. If the vast majority of Brits continue to watch such ridiculous amounts of television instead of finding other pursuits, Natasha Kaplinski's salary could be more than justified.

Blake-Ezra Cole, London,

If Five gave her £50,000 a year she'd be overpaid in my opinion. Twenty times that amount is ludicrous. It's truly pathetic that newsreaders are considered to be more newsworthy than 'real' news.

Dave, Exmouth, Devon, UK

Gosh, I have never heard of this Natasha lady... but I am happy for her to have degotiated a brilliant salary from Five Live. So long as I am not paying for it, who am I disapprove.

Not quite sure I appreciate the publicity... what will the viewers think after watching her read the news for half hour, she has just earned more money than most of us makes in a year.

D Young, LONDON, UK

it is a disgrace giving someone £1 million to read the news. Give a highly qualified, highly educated person who looks after sick patients, not only during the day but during the night who has spent years training and doing exams at their own expense £100k a year and there's an outrage. welcome to the civilised world.

s ghataura, london, london

As a woman, although I'm glad the first news reader in the country to make a £1M is a woman, cant help but feel its not for the right reasons - as co-presenter of BBC Breakfast she put me to sleep in the mornings, and in my opinion she was one of worst of BBC's lot.

Nush, London,

I have yet to hear about her hard news "journalistic" background especially as she is purported to be paid a million a year for this expertise. Adie, Sissons, and Simpson to name just a few have impeccable credentials. So where are Ms K's? Or could it be that news chiefs are simply employing her and several others for their looks and sex appeal? Of-course not, how stupid of me. One things for sure though, the cash registers used to pay national presenters only operate in multiples of a million these days.

B Redfern, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

5 employed her because she is a beautiful, intelligent, articulate, interesting, captivating woman.

Smart move, she's gorgeous.

David, St Albans, UK

You are on the way to making the mistake Australia has with its celebrity newsreaders.
Bad move.

Ava, Perth , West Australia

Could be worse; you could be paying Jonathan Ross 11m a year out your license fee...Oh yeah, you are!

Jonathan, Auckland, New Zealand

However lovely Natasha is, I regret to say this confirms the impact 'British News' had on me after a year back in UK. It is all personality and back chat and precious litle content or visuals in the time allocated. It is a determined effort to push entertainment more than information. I found Euronews more informative in every way and not a newsreader in sight to distract from reality. No yawning with boredom waiting for the message to be repeated down the layers of newscasting. And of course one actually got unbiased European news!

John Read, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

One million pounds a year because one can read? Inflation is still around then. Bet the viewing figures for Channel 5 news remain exactly as before. At least it's not our license fee that is being used to pay her wages. It's not the money . . . you bet.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

WOW is she doing the 6 oclock news topless, I'll be watching that then. Worth the licence fee.

dachaidh, rhu, scotland

Money is not a big thing she says. I wish the financially fortunate would stop saying things like this. Instead say that they are very lucky or very clever, not that it's no big deal. It is such an enormous thing to those pensioners that choose between eating and heating, the hundreds of people who will have their houses repossessed this year, the millions drowning in debt. Have a little empathy with your viewers ye celebrities and more may tune in.....

nathalie, London,

ive met natasha a few times ,picked her up from the bbc in my taxi, she is one of the nicest and generous people i ever met

gino, london, uk

Perhaps, now they can move up by buying something in Chelsea and I can look forward to seeing her in Starbucks on the King's Road with all the other delicious people.

James, Chelsea, London

isn't it funny that those with more money than sense always regard money as not being an issue with them.............whilst us plebs with more sense than money (a major pitfall of going through university) always see it as the major issue in life unless of course you're happy with eating cheap crap, living in poor conditions and never going anywhere; then money isn't an issue and you can delude yourself into believing that you are in the same group as million quid newsreaders.

jack, cardiff, uk

it's what our license fee has been paying for.

no newsreader is worth a million. or half a million, come to that. especially not a fluffy one.

still, I know at least one chocolatier near turnham green who will be very glad she's got money to spend.

jem, london, uk

I don't know much about football, but I assume B Wilson of Edinburgh is suggesting that the BBC news service is a superior product.

If you like blatant political propaganda and a 'news' service that promotes the views of its reporters over the facts, then the BBC certainly is world class.

Pete, Bristol, UK

This isn't the first time someone has had their name in the news title - what about John Craven's Newsround on BBC1 back in the 80's?

Alan, Horsham,

moving from the BBC to Five is the equivilent of a transfer from Real Madrid to West Ham

B Wilson, Edinburgh,

I would have seen Channel 5 pay any amount of money to remove her from mainstream news reporting. Glamorous but badly reported news is not something the BBC should ever sanction again.

Damian Jenkins, Bath,

When did the licence fee start paying for Channel 5 Stu???

Fox, London, England

stu, this isn't what our license fee is paying for - FIVE is a commercial station whose revenue is generated by advertising. And on FIVE she will be presenting the news at 5 and 7 o'clock not 6.

B Smith, Notts, UK

And this is what our license fee is paying for!! Such a sum could only be justified if Natasha did the 6 o'clock topless.

Stu, Edinburgh,

Good luck Natasha K and hope you enjoy your new job!

satjinder, Essex, UK

I think the early feminists would be spinning in their graves with disgust. Equal rights for equal work, was the original intention. Now, we see these greedy, vulgar walking wardrobe artistes cashing in on the backs of the poor working woman. This news reader is a typical example of what is bad in the media today.

Anne Wotana Kaye, London, England

Did Channel Five confirm she was being paid £1 million?

Ron Howard, London,

And make her replacement permanent.

Deborah B. Luyster, Jacksonville, USA/Florida