The Athletic finds former NFL insider Dianna Russini violated conflict-of-interest policy
An internal review concluded that Dianna Russini did not disclose her relationship with Patriots coach Mike Vrarch, breaching The Athletic’s standards, though the investigation found little impact on her reporting.
The Athletic released a five-month internal review that determined former NFL reporter Dianna Russini breached the outlet’s conflict-of-interest rules by failing to disclose her relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. The review, conducted by editorial director Mike Semel, examined 903 articles, 77 videos and 204 podcast episodes authored or contributed to by Russini, as well as 75 related stories from other publications. While only about five percent of her output involved Vrabel or the Patriots, the report said the public photographs showing the two together were sufficient to deem the conduct non-compliant with company policy.
Russini resigned in April after the New York Post’s Page Six published images of her and Vrabel at a resort in Sedona, Arizona, where they appeared to hold hands, hug and sit together in a pool. She declined to comment on the findings but issued a statement that she “stands by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career.”
Semel noted that Russini did not disclose the relationship, preventing editors from assessing potential conflicts in story assignments. He found no clear evidence that her coverage favored Vrabel; most pieces were transactional or mirrored reporting by other outlets. A few instances of complimentary language toward Vrabel were described as “awkward or even uncomfortable,” but the review concluded her overall work was not reliant on him as a source.
The investigation did not address the personal nature of the relationship and did not interview Russini. It recommended adding an editor’s note to three videos and a column that mentioned Vrabel, and suggested tighter onboarding training on conflict-of-interest guidelines for future staff.
"Russini should have disclosed to The Athletic the nature of her relationship with Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working, if any," Semel wrote.
The Athletic’s executive editor initially defended Russini, but the organization later suspended her and accepted her resignation following the publication of the photos.