The Dianna Russini situation is the gift that keeps on giving. One of the most respected reporters and analysts in the NFL media, she saw her alleged relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel get exposed, which led to her stepping down from The Athletic.
Since then, she’s been put through the wringer, with internet sleuths piecing together some wild details. However, her former employer put together a detailed exposé against her. Unfortunately, one insider didn’t take too kindly to it, pointing some of the blame at the New York Times themselves.
Dianna Russini Being Targeted by the New York Times
The entire situation first came to light when pictures from a resort in Arizona made it onto the internet. Since then, Russini has had to leave her job, while Vrabel admitted to some tough conversations with the organization and his family, while also seeking counseling.
The tale for the veteran reporter, though, hasn’t just ended with the job. The New York Times, which owns The Athletic, put together a piece on Russini that revealed quite a few details of interactions over the years.
One particular story caught the public’s eye about the analyst getting out of a dicey situation involving the authorities using the connection. Unfortunately, the version of events detailed in the piece didn’t match the real bodycam footage from the interaction.
Rather than admit to getting the details wrong, the publication tried to present it as an uncertain situation regarding the true facts of the matter. For Mike Florio of NBC Sports, that discrepancy sounds like a bigger cause for alarm.
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“It’s not certain? Think about what a coincidence that would be. She (Dianna Russini) got pulled over twice on the morning of January 19. Twice. In both instances, the cop pulled her over. Wasn’t a fan of the Giants or Jets, but the fan of some other team. Both instances.”
Revealing the absurdity of the entire ordeal, he continued, “In one, she merely showed her text messages with Kevin O’Connell, the coach of the Minnesota Vikings, to the officer, who said he’s a Vikings fan. There was another stop altogether where all the other facts are the same, but in that one, she FaceTimed someone. It’s not certain that that was the stop?”
The veteran insider and host of Pro Football Talk believed the coverage from NYT reeked of trying to be over smart about the situation. As a result, he laid into the company further as the video continued.
“That’s your way to stick handle around, saying, you know what, maybe we should have applied a little more elbow grease to this story. Maybe we shouldn’t have assumed that she was telling the truth when she told this whopper of a tale about FaceTiming a coach to get out of a ticket. It’s just interesting to see what news organizations do when they realize they’ve stepped in a pile of something that you try not to step in.”
It’s unlikely that the company will face any kind of consequences for their reporting. But if Russini decides to reveal her side of the story eventually after maintaining her silence over the last few months, then it could shed light on another layer of what went down.
