New look five news at 7

Surely maternity pay falls under that ever-growing category of "nothing to do with the boys on TV forum - unless they're prepared to start publishing their P60's for all to see"?

Have a contract to appear on TV doesn't mean any and every aspect of your life should be made public.

Its *stalkerville* round here sometimes.

I, for one, have no interest in La Kaplinsky's earnings, whether working or not. I was simply dismissing an earlier premise that her return *must* be motivated by financial concerns as they would have no knowledge or evidence on which to base their comment.

Even though she may be regarded as 'freelance', she must surely have a contract: that would normally include clauses for such events as illness and maternity. This applies to many fields of employment, not just the meeja.

The saturday bulletin was hosted by Simon Vigar. When did he re-join Five News? Last I saw him was on BBC World.

I watched Five News at lunchtime and it was dreadful. Admittedly, I do not usually bother with Five News, but I took time to watch it, to see if it would change my opinion of it. And, it is still terrible.

Why would a serious news bulletin, to tell you the world's news, have "celebrities" on it. That is not news, it is an entertainment show, and I use the term entertainment loosely.

I watched it quite regularly when John Suchet fronted it and it seemed humourous [because of the surreality] and quite daft for somebody of John's reputation to talk to celebrities such as someone from the US TV comedy series "Friends" on a news bulletin.

And tonight, on Five News At 7, singer Jason Donovan is going to be on. I do not have a problem with Jason Donovan, but this is a news bulletin, not This Morning!!

I understand Five News not trying to be deadly serious as Channel 4 News, but an attempt at proper non-entertainment-lead stories would be nice. Or am I just being self-centred?

Not at all, the new 7pm bulletin seems too light to be classed as news, well more liquid news, and in a way I wish this is what they'd do, if they wanted to do a full entertainment bulletin, why not label it up as so?

I do think that they should go back to just news, especially the lunch bulletin that doen't have enough time for the news in just 15 minutes without a guest on in my opinion.

Five has settled with Selina Scott in her age discrimination claim:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/06/channel-five-television-selina-scott

Actually, I like the idea here, but the execution is poor. Hopefully, when they find their niche, the show will improve.

Matt Barbet on life at Five News:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/just-keeping-the-sofa-warm-for-natasha-1056221.html

Five and BSkyB have extended their news deal, but there will be redundancies:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/20/channel-five-news-bskyb

Since this topic has come up, I would like to say how impressed I am with five news. From what I have read not many people on here are going to agree with me, but I think it manages to strike a very good balance between providing coverage of the main news stories, in depth if required, and have a more light hearted side

In particular the new Five News at 7 format has impressed me and Isla Traquair has managed to make it her 'own'. I somehow cant see Natasha fitting into the format as well. Talking off which, last week I read an article saying how ratings have gone up without Natasha and that if they were making the decision now, Five probably wouldnt have recruited her
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/4237299/Natasha-Kaplinsky-could-suffer-from-success-of-Five-News-stand-in.html

The one thing I would like to see is Helen Fospero doing the 5pm bulletin every now and then. She seems just to do lunchtimes now

I wasn't impressed with the 5 News today. They managed to miss an important part of the inauguration even though it was during the show. numpties.

Sorry to hear of cutbacks and redundancies. Are five planning to pay less for the contract or are sky just offering less 'bang for the buck' now compared to what they once promised in '05.

I cannot enthuse about 5news as I did a few years back . Despite their efforts the show lacks the impact of it's better times with ITN. I find it annoying that if they are prepared to make cutbacks , why not chop off one presenter whose costs are excessive and then save half a dozen jobs elsewhere.

5 news has tended towards the minimalist in recent years but if they lose any more reporters it's going to be very threadbare indeed.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Lunchtime bulletin went and we were down to just 2 bulletins a day.