We can officially stick a fork in the fallout stage of former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini's long and handholdy relationship with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Russini resigned in disgrace and remains unemployed, while Vrabel suffered absolutely no professional consequences. And now The Athletic has completed its five-month review to determine whether her work was up to the company's ethical standards. Spoiler alert: It was mostly fine.
The review was published Thursday morning and conducted by Mike Semel, editorial director for standards and quality at The Athletic. There are few revelations in the details of Russini's relationship with Vrabel, but she was found "noncompliant" with the outlet's standard of conduct for employees for not disclosing the relationship to her editors. Most of her reporting was found to be sound and ethical. However, two of Russini's pieces have now had editors' notes attached: a video in which she speaks glowingly of Vrabel breaking up a fight in training camp, and an item in a notebook column that contained an unattributed but highly detailed description of Vrabel's thinking and also dinner order.
How did Semel determine all this?
For the purposes of this report, I reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos published on The Athletic site and app that carried Russini’s byline, co-byline, a contributor line or a mention of her reporting. I reviewed 204 episodes of the Scoop City podcast, produced by The Athletic and co-hosted by Russini. I watched or listened to about 25 off-platform appearances or interviews for which she was in some way representing The Athletic. I interviewed approximately 14 Athletic staffers who had worked most closely with Russini at the publication. I also reviewed about 75 stories to evaluate how The Athletic’s coverage of certain events involving Vrabel or his teams compared to coverage in other publications.
Good lord. Imagine your only job for nearly half a year being to read old blogs about how the Cardinals are eyeing Jeff Driskel for a practice-squad spot. Poor bastard. This warrants hazard pay. If Patrick Redford ever commits an ethical breach that forces me to go back and "listen to his podcasts," I will kill him with my bare hands. I had believed the victims of Russini and Vrabel's dalliance were confined to their respective families, but I hadn't considered what it'd mean for Mike Semel.
