Dianna Russini ‘was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,’ review finds

An internal review of Dianna Russini’s work by The Athletic published on Thursday found that the former star NFL reporter’s relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel “was in clear violation” of the outlet’s standards. However, the review found “no inaccuracies from Russini in any story involving Vrabel or his teams.”

The nearly five-month review, published by Mike Semel, The Athletic’s editorial director for standards and quality, found that Russini was “noncompliant” with the publication’s standards, which require disclosure of “sources or affiliations that may put into question our ability to be credible.”

“Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed,” Semel wrote.

Russini did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. However, she told The Athletic : “I stand by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career.” The Athletic pointed to the report as its statement on the matter.

Russini resigned from The Athletic in April , one week after Page Six published photos of her with Vrabel from March 28 that showed the pair holding hands, embracing and spending time in a pool together at a boutique resort in Sedona, Arizona.

Why Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel are trending

Initially, Steven Ginsberg, the publication’s executive editor, said the photos were “misleading” and lacking “essential context” — even as The Athletic launched its investigation. However, after Russini resigned, Ginsberg wrote in a memo to staffers that “as additional information emerged, new questions were raised that became part of our investigation.”

The Page Six photographs, which were published on April 7, “indicate a relationship that puts The Athletic’s credibility in jeopardy and gives the appearance of a conflict of interest,” per Semel.

Following Russini’s resignation, The Athletic closed its probe into her personal conduct, given she was no longer employed by the company, per Semel. As such, the report did not investigate the nature of the pair’s relationship — and does not draw any conclusions about the pair. It did, however, proceed with an investigation into Russini’s work.

To reach its determination, Semel pored through 903 stories and 77 videos that bear Russini’s byline, co-byline, a contributor line or a mention of her reporting from her 32 months at the publication.

Only around 46 of the written stories mentioned Vrabel or the Patriots, while only three videos were related to the coach. Semel suggested putting Editor’s Notes on two of those videos, citing the Page Six photos, despite the videos being “light-hearted.”

The dive into Russini’s work found that she was “seldom reliant on Vrabel as a source or subject,” while conversations with editors and reporters who closely worked with her made it clear that “Russini was sourced up around the NFL, not just with Vrabel or the Patriots,” per Semel. Those colleagues “did not suspect she was closer with Vrabel than anyone else,” Semel wrote.

Though the relationship created the appearance of a conflict, Semel wrote that he found “no inaccuracies from Russini in any story involving Vrabel or his teams” and that “most of what Russini wrote about Vrabel or the Patriots was transactional and newsy.”

“In addition, 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,” Semel wrote. “That said, there are examples of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.”

To maintain reader trust, Semel recommended that The Athletic “look for ways to tighten standards and try to avoid anything like this happening again,” including clarified guidelines and a review with the Standards Editor during new hires’ onboarding.

《The Athletic》周四发布的一份内部审查报告指出，前NFL明星记者迪安娜·鲁西尼与新英格兰爱国者队主教练迈克·弗雷贝尔的关系“明显违反”了该媒体的准则。然而，审查报告也发现“鲁西尼在任何涉及弗雷贝尔或其球队的报道中均未出现不实之处”。

由《The Athletic》负责标准和质量的编辑总监迈克·塞梅尔发布的这份历时近五个月的审查报告发现，鲁西尼“不符合”该出版物的标准，这些标准要求披露“可能使我们可信度受到质疑的消息来源或隶属关系”。

“无论这段关系是否涉及恋爱关系，这都是一种违约行为，应该予以披露，”塞梅尔写道。

鲁西尼没有回应CNN的置评请求。但她告诉《The Athletic》：“我坚持我职业生涯中所做的所有报道。”《The Athletic》则以该报道作为其对此事的声明。

鲁西尼于四月份从《The Athletic》辞职，此前一周，《Page Six》刊登了她与弗拉贝尔于 3 月 28 日在亚利桑那州塞多纳一家精品度假村牵手、拥抱并在泳池中共度时光的照片。

迪安娜·鲁西尼和迈克·弗拉贝尔为何成为热门话题

最初，《The Athletic》的执行主编史蒂文·金斯伯格表示，这些照片“具有误导性”，缺乏“必要的背景信息”——即便在《The Athletic》展开调查之时也是如此。然而，在鲁西尼辞职后，金斯伯格在一份给员工的备忘录中写道：“随着更多信息的出现，新的问题也随之而来，这些问题也成为了我们调查的一部分。”

据塞梅尔称，《第六页》4月7日刊登的照片“表明了一种关系，这种关系危及了《The Athletic》的信誉，并给人一种利益冲突的印象”。

据塞梅尔透露，鲁西尼辞职后，《The Athletic》结束了对其个人行为的调查，因为她已不再受雇于该公司。因此，该报道并未调查两人关系的性质，也未对两人做出任何结论。不过，该报道继续对鲁西尼的工作进行了调查。

为了得出这一结论，塞梅尔仔细查阅了 903 篇报道和 77 个视频，这些报道和视频都署有鲁西尼的名字、共同署名、贡献者身份或提及了她在该出版物工作 32 个月期间的报道。

在所有文字报道中，只有大约46篇提到了弗拉贝尔或爱国者队，而与这位教练相关的视频也只有三段。塞梅尔建议在其中两段视频上添加编辑注释，并引用了《第六页》的照片，尽管这些视频“轻松幽默”。

深入研究鲁西尼的作品后发现，她“很少依赖弗拉贝尔作为消息来源或采访对象”，而与她密切合作的编辑和记者的对话则表明，“鲁西尼的消息来源遍布整个NFL，而不仅仅是弗拉贝尔或爱国者队”，塞梅尔写道。这些同事“并没有怀疑她与弗拉贝尔的关系比任何人都更密切”，塞梅尔写道。

尽管这种关系造成了冲突的假象，但塞梅尔写道，他发现“鲁西尼在任何涉及弗拉贝尔或他的球队的报道中都没有不准确之处”，并且“鲁西尼写的关于弗拉贝尔或爱国者队的大部分内容都是交易性的和新闻性的”。

“此外，我也没有找到明确的证据表明鲁西尼在任职《The Athletic》期间利用她的平台帮助弗拉贝尔或他的球队，”塞梅尔写道。“话虽如此，鲁西尼确实写过一些对弗拉贝尔赞不绝口的文章，事后看来，这些文章显得尴尬甚至令人不适。”

为了维护读者的信任，塞梅尔建议《The Athletic》“寻找方法来加强标准，并努力避免再次发生类似的事情”，包括明确指导方针，以及在新员工入职培训期间与标准编辑进行审查。