Critical Questions

Critical Issues brought up more questions to me than it actually answered on Friday, and I've been thinking about it since. I'm constantly shocked into a stutter when sources turn the tables on me, asking "What do you think? or "Who told you that?" I'm wondering what you guys do in those situations.

On my first RW1 story, I wrote about the first art gallery to open in Sunset Park. I spent two long afternoons at the gallery with its owners and on the second afternoon they had ordered lunch and decided to eat while I was there. They offered me food a few times before I finally accepted. It felt odd to sit with them at the table, but not eat, and also sort of rude to decline their continual offers. Was it wrong to eat a small bowl of Chinese noodle soup? I didn't really think twice about it (I never felt that I owed them anything extra because of the soup) until Critical Issues. Now I'm wondering, was it completely unethical of me to have a bowl of soup? Would the gallery owners have felt betrayed if I wrote an unfavorable piece about them?

I'm anxious to hear about your ethical dilemmas and how you've dealt with them and how you reacted to Critical Issues on Friday. I guess experience is the best way for us to learn, but it's so scary to think we could so easily make the wrong, unethical choice.