Dianna Russini violated workplace rules at The Athletic by not disclosing her relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, but the former NFL insider’s reporting was not biased in his favor, according to the website’s investigation into Russini.
The Athletic released the findings of its inquiry on Thursday. Russini’s actions had been under scrutiny since April, when the New York Post published photos of the reporter and coach at a resort in Arizona in situations that went beyond the typical coach-reporter rapport. After initially being supportive of her, The Athletic’s leadership suspended Russini, 43, and she resigned.
“Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,” wrote Mike Semel, an editorial director for standards and quality at The Athletic, in the report. “Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed.”
Semel also led a deep review of Russini’s work since she joined The Athletic from ESPN in August 2023, that he said showed little evidence that the coverage of Vrabel and the teams he coached — the Tennessee Titans and Patriots — was affected by their connection.
Semel detailed the extent of his review of Russini’s work, saying he looked at 903 stories and 77 videos published by The Athletic that Russini wrote or co-wrote, contributed to or was mentioned in the reporting. He listened to hours of her podcast, and Semel also evaluated her performance representing the company on other platforms, as well stories from The Athletic in general about Vrabel and his teams. He also interviewed other employees of The Athletic.
“The vast majority of Russini’s work for The Athletic had nothing to do with Vrabel, the teams he was coaching or the players the team was pursuing,” Semel wrote, adding: “In interviews with editors and reporters with whom she worked most closely, it was clear Russini was sourced up around the NFL, not just with Vrabel or the Patriots.”
Still, Semel added, “the appearances surrounding her relationship with Vrabel undermines our audience’s confidence in her impartiality.”
Of the 903 stories he reviewed, only 46 of them — approximately 5% — had mention of Vrabel, the Titans or the Patriots. About 30 of them had to do with player transactions or organization personnel moves. Of the remaining articles, only three stories were of “unusual depth about Vrabel.” Only one carried her byline.
Semel flagged a Russini column about Vrabel’s return to Tennessee as the Patriots’ coach for being “awkward or even uncomfortable” due to its effusive praise of him. But, he said, it’s an opinion that also was being shared by other NFL reporters.
“As gushing as the prose is, almost all media were fawning in writing about Vrabel’s return. That was the story line. The Titans were in the cellar and had just fired Vrabel’s successor, while the Patriots were on the way to the Super Bowl.”
