In a feature article "Restoring Trust," PR Week talked to PR experts about restoring confidence in the business world. "American corporations have to understand that the best thing they can do right now is to communicate: completely, honestly, transparently, and often," Notre Dame University business professor James O'Rourke told PR Week. "If more CEOs sounded like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in their briefings, we'd all be better off. If things aren't good, say so and explain what you're going to do about it.

Whistleblowers play a vital role in stopping government misconduct, but they often pay a heavy price. "Retaliation can include marginalization, firings, loss of promotions, and even death threats," writes Katherine Uraneck. Thomas Devine of the Government Accountability Project says whistleblowers should expect some retaliation. "Before sticking their necks out, whistleblowers should carefully plan a survival strategy," he advises.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is calling for bioethics institutions and journals to disclose their financial relationships with the biotech industry. So far, the request has mostly fallen on deaf ears. "The industry's increasing recruitment of bioethicists has been widely debated, as has the scope of the contributions," notes Hal Cohen. "Most bioethics institutions don't publish such statistics, leaving the public to draw its own conclusions about conflicts of interest.