Audio: Forbidden fruit

Three things you need to know about l’affaire iPhone

When the technology website Gizmodo paid $5,000 for a secret prototype of Apple’s next-generation iPhone, it attracted the interest of California prosecutors. But the authorities’ response may also be tainting Apple’s image — in part because the company has a representative on the board of the law-enforcement task force that’s pursuing the case. Need to Know cultural correspondent Rick Karr considers the bigger picture: First, he talks ethics with Bill Grueskin of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Second, he chats with Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to compare the raid on the Gizmodo blogger’s home with federal prosecutors’ efforts to get Pulitzer prizewinning New York Times reporter and author James Risen to give up his sources. Finally, Rick talks with David Carr about his recent New York Times column, which explored Apple’s image in the wake of the incident.