The Athletic has concluded its review into former senior NFL insider Dianna Russini and found that her relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, which was undisclosed, violated its standards.
“We undertook this review to ensure the integrity of our journalism and to maintain the trust our audience places in us,” Steven Ginsberg, executive editor of The Athletic, wrote in an internal message obtained by Sports Media Watch. “Nothing is more important than our credibility.”
Mike Semel, who works as the editorial director for standards and editorial quality at The Athletic, determined that “Russini was noncompliant” when it came to standards at the publication. In the end, he determined that the photographs of Russini and Vrabel socializing at a resort in March, as well as photos taken years earlier at a casino and bar, “indicate a relationship that puts The Athletic’s credibility in jeopardy and gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
While the company did not reach a conclusion pertaining to “the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini,” it determined that “the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy.” Semel also noted that Russini waited two days to inform her editors and managers about the photographs and “told a story to explain the photos that did not align with facts, raising issues of trust.”
“I stand by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career,” Russini said in a statement to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
Semel conducted a review that consisted of 903 stories and 77 videos published involving Russini, along with 204 podcasts and additional off-platform appearances. The investigation also encompassed interviews with “approximately 14 Athletic staffers” and compared coverage of Vrabel to other publications.
Semel did not find that most of Russini’s work was related to Vrabel, breaking down specific mentions and references to him within the full report. At the same time, he said that “her work was seldom reliant on Vrabel as a source or subject” and had various sources around the NFL, including owners, coaches, agents, players and general managers. “But, of course, the appearances surrounding her relationship with Vrabel undermines our audience’s confidence in her impartiality,” Semel wrote.
Ginsberg said that editor’s notes have been added to one written stories and three videos “that did not meet our standards.” Semel had recommended the notes be added to the videos and the story in his report, explaining that the latter did “not meet The Athletic’s standards of attribution.” Semel also noted that there were some instances “of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable,” citing a column and various podcast episodes.
The Athletic had initially supported Russini when the photographs were published, with Ginsberg calling the photographs “misleading” and describing the interactions as having taken place “in front of many people.” But he later said in an internal memo obtained by Dylan Byers of Puck that additional information resulted in “new questions” being “raised that became part of our investigation.”
Russini resigned from The Athletic in April less than a week after the New York Post-owned “Page Six” published photographs of her and Vrabel together at a resort. In a statement at the time, she said she was stepping away because she was not going to allow the narrative around the situation to “define me or my career.” Earlier in the statement, she cited a “media frenzy” that was occurring as The Athletic was working to review the situation.
“Overall, the review found that our standards and editorial processes are strong,” Ginsberg wrote on Wednesday. “We are always committed to improving them and moments like these are a good opportunity to review policies and practices. I plan on working with Mike and others to ensure that our standards continue to evolve as necessary.”
Russini formerly worked at ESPN as a reporter and appeared across programs such as “Sunday NFL Countdown” and “NFL Live.” Prior to her time on national television, she worked for several different networks on sports and news reporting, including NBC New York, CSN Northwest and News 12.
