ATLANTA—Facing a backlash over what critics viewed as misleading journalistic practices, CNN was under fire Thursday for its failure to disclose that a recent panelist pushing for military action in Iran was in fact a Raytheon DeepStrike Missile. “We do not believe that our panelist’s status as a machine of war affected its ability to be impartial about the escalation of tension in Iran—the armament was appearing on our program in its capacity as a pundit, not as a long-range guided weapon,” said CNN president Jeff Zucker, defending the network’s decision to provide air time to the surface-to-surface precision strike missile that was billed only as an “expert on U.S.–Iran relations” during a recent episode of The Don Lemon Show. “CNN strives to provide our audience with a diversity of viewpoints and leave it up to them to make their own decisions, and this projectile’s background gives it a unique insight into the fraught situation in the Middle East that viewers deserve to hear.” Zucker added that he was committed to providing more balanced coverage by adding a Lockheed Martin Dual Mode laser-guided bomb to the network’s regular roster of guests.

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