Athletic: Russini-Vrabel ties violated standards

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  Ben StraussSep 3, 2026, 10:00 AM ET

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  Ben Strauss is a senior reporter focused on sports business.

Former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini's relationship with Mike Vrabel violated newsroom standards but showed no clear bias toward the New England Patriots head coach, according to the findings of an internal investigation into her work published on the company's website Thursday.

"Russini's relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic's standards," Mike Semel, the outlet's editorial director for standards and editorial quality, wrote in the report. "Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed."

As for Russini's coverage of Vrabel, Semel wrote: "I've not found a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to help promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at The Athletic. That said, there are examples of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable."

The findings are the result of a nearly five-month investigation that began after the New York Post published photographs of Russini with Vrabel together at an adults-only resort, shortly after which Russini resigned from the New York Times-owned Athletic.

The Athletic and New York Times declined to comment beyond the public report. Russini did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

According to the report, Semel reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos that contained Russini's byline, contributor line or a mention of her reporting. He analyzed 204 episodes of a podcast Russini co-hosted and a number of appearances she made on other outlets while representing the Athletic. He interviewed Athletic staff, as well, though he did not speak to Russini, according to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The person said the Athletic had no access to Russini's phone and that the report was solely focused on her publicly available reporting. The Athletic began an inquiry into Russini's relationship with Vrabel while she was an employee, but ended it once she resigned. The report stated that the Athletic did not complete an investigation or reach a conclusion about the nature of Russini's relationship with Vrabel.

"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. "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 wrote, "the appearances surrounding her relationship with Vrabel undermines our audience's confidence in her impartiality."

Semel suggested adding editor's notes to two pieces of Athletic content following the review. The first is a "lighthearted" video in which Russini referred to Vrabel as "somewhat heroic" for his role in breaking up a training camp fight. The second instance is a column in which information was not properly attributed, according to the report.

Semel reported that he found no inaccuracies in Russini's reporting, though it identified one piece from 2023 in which Russini reported Vrabel's coaching job in Tennessee was safe less than two months before he was ultimately fired. "No other media came out as strongly about Vrabel's job security," the report said, though it added it was difficult to prove Russini hadn't spoken to Titans sources and that the story wasn't accurate at the time of publication.

In Russini's resignation letter, she wrote, "I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published."

The Athletic's executive editor Steven Ginsberg initially issued a public defense of Russini after the Post published the photos and said the matter had been taken out of context. Later, he wrote a memo to Athletic staff saying, "As additional information emerged, new questions were raised that became part of our investigation."

The report concluded with recommendations that the Athletic should add a meeting with the standards editor as part of its onboarding process for new hires and that the company must be vigilant in enforcing its conflict of interest guidelines and sourcing standards, including asking reporters to disclose anonymous sources to their editors.