Not that long ago, Dianna Russini was at the top of her profession as an NFL insider for The Athletic. She was reportedly making nearly $800,000 and was considered one of the faces of the company, which is owned by The New York Times.
That all came crashing down with a series of photos that appeared in the New York Post in early April. The photos showed Russini hanging out at an Arizona resort with Mike Vrabel, head coach of the New England Patriots. The photos showed Vrabel and Russini — both married to other people — hugging, interlocking hands and hanging out poolside and in a hot tub.
The photos raised questions about whether Russini was having an inappropriate relationship with someone she covered — a clear conflict of interest.
Vrabel denied the two had an intimate relationship, and The Athletic’s executive editor, Steve Ginsberg, immediately issued a strong statement defending Russini, saying, “These photos are misleading and lack essential context.”
But not long after, The Athletic launched an investigation into the matter, and Russini resigned. She defended her journalism and said she had “no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept.”
The story is far from over.
We’re still waiting for that investigation to reach a conclusion, but on Wednesday, the Times’ Katherine Rosman and Ken Belson published a lengthy deep dive into the whole matter in “Dianna Russini Was an N.F.L. ‘Insider.’ Was She Also Out of Bounds?”
The piece is certainly fascinating, particularly for those interested in sports and sports media. And while it never uncovers the big question at the heart of this story — whether Russini had an inappropriate relationship with Vrabel — it does pull back the curtain on how Russini learned of the Post story, what she did immediately after and some of her journalistically questionable ethics.
For example, the story opens with Russini getting out of a texting-while-driving ticket by getting an NFL coach to FaceTime the police officer who pulled Russini over. She actually told that story on a podcast.
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The Times wrote in its story, “Ms. Russini operated in a sports-media landscape where traditional journalistic lines could be blurry. She might have considered calling a coach to get out of a ticket not only appropriate, but a funny story to tell on a podcast. For The Athletic, under the ownership of The Times, it was out of bounds. Danielle Rhoades Ha, a Times Company spokeswoman, described it as ‘unacceptable conduct,’ adding that Athletic editors had been unaware of it because Ms. Russini neither sought nor received permission to appear on the podcast, as required by company guidelines.”
While that certainly isn’t the worst ethics lapse in journalism history, Russini made other missteps, especially concerning the Vrabel matter. The Times reported that when first confronted by the New York Post about the photos, Russini reached out to Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief executive of the Times Company. Levien told Russini to contact Ginsberg and David Perpich, publisher of The Athletic and the vice chairman of the Times Company. (The Times wrote, “The chief executive ‘had no other involvement after that,’ said the spokeswoman, who declined to make Ms. Levien, Mr. Perpich or Mr. Ginsberg available for interviews.”)
When the Post reached out to The Athletic about the photos, The Athletic had only hours to issue a response. The Athletic was unaware that the Post had reached out to Russini two days prior, according to the Times story.
There’s much more to this story, including Russini’s rise from local journalist to one of the biggest names in sports journalism.
Meanwhile, we wait for the official report of The Athletic’s investigation, which could come out at any time.
ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio appeared on Dan Patrick’s radio show Wednesday and said this story was likely the “appetizer” to that investigation’s final report.
But there is a bit more to the Russini-Times story, one that centers on one of journalism’s most infamous phrases …
What is off the record?
For her part, until this story in The New York Times, Russini has not spoken publicly since her resignation. However, to be clear, she did not want to be quoted by the Times.
Here’s what the Times wrote:
In early May, after The Times began reporting this article, Ms. Russini responded to a reporter’s request for an interview via text message. She cited the “intense scrutiny and personal attacks” she had faced, saying, “This has had a significant impact on my life, both professionally and personally.” At the end of the message, referring to herself as a “former journalist,” Ms. Russini asked the reporter not to quote from the text.
The interaction demonstrated a different approach to journalism from the way that it is conducted in traditional newsrooms.
When the reporter told her that this article would include portions of her text message because no agreement had been made for them to engage in an off-the-record correspondence, Ms. Russini objected and then emailed Mr. Perpich, the publisher of The Athletic, as well as two senior editors at The Times to reiterate her wish that her comments not be included.
A couple of things here. For starters, the subject of a story cannot ask for something to be off the record after the fact. That’s what happened here. Russini sent a text to the Times and then asked not to be quoted. In that situation, the reporter had no obligation to honor that request. That’s not how journalism works, and Russini knows that.
It’s OK for Russini to ask not to be quoted, but she can’t reasonably expect that request to be honored. In addition, her attempts to go over the heads of the reporters by contacting top executives at the Times and The Athletic were unsuccessful, and she should not have been surprised by that.
To be clear, the only time something is considered off the record is when the journalist and the person they are talking to agree that what is being said is off the record before it is said.
One final thought on this …
It was interesting that The New York Times did a big investigative piece with none of the Times and Athletic bigwigs — Levien, Perpich or Ginsberg — made available for comment.
This actually makes sense
Wow, check out the headline on this story in The Wall Street Journal from Emily Glazer, Annie Linskey and Jessica Toonkel: “How a $45 Million Donation Brought Larry Ellison Deeper Into Trump’s Circle.”
Larry Ellison’s son, David, heads up Paramount, the parent company of CBS. Paramount is in the final stages of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns, among other properties, CNN. The merger required approval from the Trump administration.
The Journal reporters wrote, “Ellison gave roughly $45 million to a political nonprofit group supporting Trump’s election efforts in 2024, according to people familiar with the fundraising. Such funding isn’t subject to disclosure rules and hasn’t been previously reported. More recently, Ellison has given millions of dollars more to groups that support Trump since the election, the people said, with some of the funds going to Trump’s legacy initiatives in Washington, D.C.”
The Journal went on to write, “The Ellisons have cultivated a symbiotic friendship with Trump. Larry Ellison and the president share ideological beliefs in support of Israel and critical of some mainstream media. David Ellison bought the Free Press in 2025 and installed the news and opinion startup’s co-founder Bari Weiss atop CBS News, where she has made significant changes to staffing and programming. A merger with Warner would add CNN to the Ellison fold.”
Back in December, as Netflix and Paramount were battling each other to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Journal’s Joe Flint, Brian Schwartz and Natalie Andrews wrote, “During a visit to Washington in recent days, David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump’s ire, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has told people close to him that he wants new ownership of CNN as well as changes to CNN programming.”
But in the story from the Journal on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Paramount said, “No commitments from either David or Larry Ellison have been made to any government body, State AG or federal agency regarding the future of CNN or any other news property, other than the goal to deliver truth-based journalism.”
Tucker Carlson bails on the Republican Party
Tucker Carlson, shown here at the White House in January of this year. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on a podcast this week that he’s done, for now, with the Republican Party.
Talking on the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast, Carlson said that “there’s no chance I would support the Republican Party” ahead of the November midterm elections. He quickly added, “Not gonna support the Democratic Party. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Carlson was one of the GOP’s biggest cheerleaders while hosting his prime-time show on Fox News. After being fired in 2023, Carlson carried on with his popular podcast and supported Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
But that has changed.
He said on the podcast, “How could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens? It’s not possible to vote for people like that, and I’m not going to.”
Carlson has been highly critical of the U.S.’s war with Iran, among other issues.
He said on the podcast, “They are making decisions on the basis of other criteria, what’s best for this company, what’s best for Israel, what’s best for our donors. That’s not just, like, they are off in the wrong direction, like, that is unacceptable, that’s treasonous, it’s immoral, it can’t continue. I’ve been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party, I mean very consistent defender, but there’s no defending this. So no, I’m out. And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out.”
Meanwhile …
A current popular Fox News host, Sean Hannity, took to social media on Wednesday to address questions about his health. Many on social media pointed out that on Fox News this week, Hannity’s face appeared a bit puffy, and he was not speaking as clearly as he normally does.
So Hannity tweeted Wednesday:
Thanks to everyone who has checked in. I’ve already addressed this several times on my radio show, but while training, I developed a painful pinched nerve in my neck. My doctor put me on prednisone to reduce the inflammation, and while it’s helping, it led to laryngitis and some puffiness, which is normal for this medication. I’m fine, recovering well, and still training, but apparently a few weeks of prednisone has generated more social media commentary than 30 years of ratings success. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes—including from members of the left-wing media. Sorry to disappoint them, but a pinched nerve, a raspy voice, and a puffy face aren’t taking me out anytime soon.
Media tidbits
- Status’ Oliver Darcy writes, “The Los Angeles Times has repeatedly fallen behind on payments to contractors and vendors, Status has learned, even as its billionaire owner pushes ahead with plans for an IPO.” Check out more in “Patrick Soon-Shiong’s Payment Problems.”
- Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner with “Bob Iger explains why he never spun off ESPN: ‘Imagine if it ended up in Netflix.’”
- Nieman Lab’s Sophie Culpepper with “Book reviews are an endangered species. So this independent bookstore decided to start publishing its own.”
- The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin with “Hollywood and Big Tech Are Preparing for War.”
- Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel is reporting that former LSU and Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly will call college games for CBS Sports this fall. Kelly, who also has coached at Central Michigan and Cincinnati, will be part of a three-man booth calling Mountain West games. Kelly was fired by LSU midway through last season because the team wasn’t performing up to expectations. Don’t be surprised if this TV gig is just temporary. Kelly, 64, has said he wants to coach again, and his resume is still good enough that he will land a job somewhere at some point.
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