What? The press, regardless of format of publication, is not exempt from law, including criminal law. I don't think the NYT would have been stupid enough to pull the crap Gizmodo did with this prototype.

Right now there's the possibility they'll get nailed for stolen property, but it's not unreasonable that they would also be open to charges for having violated trade secret laws as well. Even the Apple employee could probably file a civil suit for invasion of privacy, defamation of character, and more.

When you "find" something and don't make any attempt to return it, especially if you know who it belongs to, that's considered theft in California (among other places). When you buy something that you know is stolen, you're also breaking the law (this one pretty much everywhere).

An iPhone isn't worth $5000. A stolen prototype is worth a lot more, but Gizmodo got it for a song apparently. They knew what they were buying before having handed over the money.