the present study aimed at investigating how different news agencies using the concept of legitimation/delegitimation represent the same event differently. to this end, van leeuwens (2008) legitimatory/delegitimatory framework was applied to the data gleaned from the iranian state-run news agency fars news, british state-run news agency bbc, and also american state-run news agency voa. the results showed that legitimatory/delegitimatory categories were systematically applied by these three news networks and that they made use of some categories more frequently than others. furthermore, based on the frequencies obtained, it was evident that voa and bbc mostly tried to legitimize the killing of osama bin laden while fars news made its best attempt to remind its readers of the possibility of delegitimizing osama bin laden as one who served american interests whether consciously or unconsciously. as language has several layers to convey messages and meanings, familiarizing students with at least some of these layers would be beneficial in the way to make them critical readers. therefore, this study has some implications, in particular, for material developers as they can convey particular ideas in more subtle and effective ways using the framework applied in this study, for academic modules presented domestically or abroad involving reading courses of various kinds, and for courses of translation and curriculum design.