The New York Times. October 2, 2007 issue. Article by Mireya Navarro


Spears Loses Sons' Custody to Ex-Spouse After Testing

Los Angeles, Oct 1.—Britney Spears has lost custody of her two sons after a superior Court Judge ruled Monday that her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, would take custody beginning Wednesday until further order of the court.

This is a good hard news lede because the story covers most of the five w’s and gets right to the point. It starts with the subject, Britney Spears, and explains what happened and when in a very concise way. Because the story is from an area outside of New York, the where is stated beforehand. The why question is not stated in the lede, but with the amount of publicity Britney Spears has received recently, a why is not really necessary.