Dianna Russini stayed quiet for months while an internal review dug through nearly three years of her work. That silence ended Thursday, the same day the results came out.
The Athleticreleased its inquiry into former NFL insider Dianna Russini’s undisclosed relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel on Sept. 3. The review concluded Russini was “noncompliant” with the publication’s standards. Mike Semel, The Athletic‘s editorial director for standards and editorial quality, spent nearly five months examining more than 900 stories and 77 videos tied to Russini.
Russini responds after five-month review concludes
Russini declined to sit for an interview with Semel during the review. She broke her silence Thursday through a statement given to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
“I stand by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career,” Russini said.
It marked her first public comment since she resigned from The Athletic on April 14. Russini had spent nearly three years as the outlet’s senior NFL insider after eight seasons at ESPN.
Semel’s report did not determine the full nature of the Russini-Vrabel relationship. He said he did not investigate her personal conduct because she was no longer an Athletic employee when the review concluded. Still, he wrote that the public photographs alone were enough to establish a violation of company policy.
“We neither completed an investigation nor reached any conclusion about the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini, but the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy,” the report said.
The New York Post’s Page Six published photos in April showing Russini and Vrabel together at a resort in Sedona, Arizona. The images showed the pair holding hands, hugging and sitting together in a pool. Russini resigned one week after the photos ran, submitting her resignation before the review concluded.
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What Semel’s investigation found about her coverage
Semel interviewed roughly 14 Athletic staffers who worked alongside Russini. Of the 903 stories she wrote or contributed to, around 5% touched Vrabel or his teams in some way. None of the pieces mentioning Vrabel were scoops that The Athletic reported exclusively.
Semel found no clear evidence that Russini used her position to help Vrabel or his teams, though he flagged a handful of moments as problematic in hindsight. A column from last October and a few appearances on her Scoop City podcast drew scrutiny for tone. Semel recommended attaching an editor’s note to that column and to three videos, including one from a 2025 training camp fight between the Patriots and Commanders in which Vrabel was described in heroic terms for breaking it up.
The report also pointed to Russini’s response when Page Six first approached her about the photos. She waited two days before informing her editors, and Semel wrote that she offered an explanation that did not match the facts.
Semel recommended The Athletic add a 30-minute standards briefing for new newsroom hires going forward. The goal, he wrote, is to clarify conflict-of-interest guidelines and strengthen sourcing standards across the organization.
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