It’s been months since former NFL insider Dianna Russini resigned from her position with The Athletic after news broke of an alleged affair she was having with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. While Vrabel has faced no disciplinary action from the Patriots or the NFL, Russini, on the other hand, has watched her career go up in flames. She hasn’t been involved in sports journalism in any capacity since leaving The Athletic, and she’s kept a low profile ever since.
Even though she resigned, The Athletic continued its investigation into Russini’s relationship with Vrabel and the validity of her reporting during her time with the company, and the findings of that investigation were finally made public on Thursday. According to The Athletic’s editorial director of standards and quality Mike Semel, Russini broke a few of the company’s policies during her near three-year tenure and her conflict of interest with Vrabel violated reader trust. After combing through 903 stories — 46 of which mentioned Vrabel — 204 podcasts, and 77 videos, Semel disclosed that the “vast majority” of stories Russini authored were above board and didn’t involve any potential bias toward Vrabel.
The blurb does not meet The Athletic’s standards of attribution and warrants an Editor’s Note.” The report also states there were no inaccuracies found in Russini’s reporting, and there was no clear evidence that Russini favored Vrabel in her coverage for The Athletic. Vrabel was asked by reporters during his media availability on Thursday what his reaction to The Athletic’s investigation was, to which he gave a typical Vrabel answer.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
