Astrophysicist and television host Neil deGrasse Tyson said on March 9 that the news media must stop trying to “balance” the debate on scientific issues by inviting people who oppose science.

In an interview on CNN, news host Brian Stelter asked Tyson how one could broker peace in the “war on science” to which Tyson said, “Our civilization is built on the innovation of scientists and technologists and engineers who have shaped everything that we so take for granted today. So some of the science deniers or science haters, these are people who are telling that to you while they are on their mobile phone.”

He elucidated, “They are saying, ‘I don’t like science. Oh, GPS just told us to go left. So it’s time for people to sit back and reassess what role science has actually played in our lives. And learn how to embrace that going forward, because without it, we will just regress back into the caves.”

Stelter made note of the fact that news media often tries to balance the climate change debate, even when both sides are not equally equipped.

“What responsibility do you think the members of the media have to portray science correctly?” asked Stelter.

“The media has to sort of come out of this ethos that I think was in principle a good one, but it doesn’t really apply in science… The principle was, whatever story you give, you have to give the opposing view. And then you can be viewed as balanced… You don’t talk about the spherical Earth with NASA, and then say let’s give equal time to the Flat Earthers… Plus, science is not there for you to cherry pick,” explained Tyson.

Tyson recalled that he once said, “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it. You can decide whether or not to believe in it, but that doesn’t change the reality of an emergent scientific truth,” he noted.