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Until there’s a vaccine for the new coronavirus, infectious disease professionals point to digital contact tracing as a key way for authorities to safely lift lockdowns and begin cauterizing the economic, mental health and other personal trauma the pandemic is inflicting on millions of people worldwide.

When journalists cover academic research, they often face the challenge of explaining complex scientific findings in a way the public trusts and understands.

Fittingly enough, there are researchers dedicated to the study of just that, producing knowledge that may help journalists better communicate other research findings.

Each year, we survey journalists, journalism faculty and others in our audience for feedback on how they use our free materials and how we can better help them improve the quality of journalism. Our core aim is to bridge the gap between newsrooms and academia by helping reporters find and use peer-reviewed academic research and other forms of high-quality evidence in their coverage of public policy topics.

Be wary of parachute journalism. And also parachute research.

A new study in the British Medical Journal serves as an example for all journalists who swoop in and out of academic papers without much care.