Two contemporary British newspaper accounts of President Kennedy’s assassination were analysed using two different means of linguistic analysis. The Guardian and The Daily Mirror were chosen due to their contrasting journalistic styles and the lack of choice online. Experiential analysis and interpersonal analysis were chosen due to their differing focus. The experiential analysis revealed a higher proportion of different process types in each of the two accounts. The two papers also differed in the percentage usage of different participants and circumstances. The interpersonal analysis showed little occurrence of modality in either newspaper, though there was some occurrence in the residue. An analysis of mood in both texts revealed little of interest as the vast majority of sentences are declaratives. Evidence of subtle author intrusion and bias is demonstrated through appraisal of affect, judgement and appreciation.

Keywords: Experiential analysis, interpersonal analysis, linguistic analysis, analysis