The Athletic Plays Defense

Natalie Korach

On Tuesday, Page Six published photos of The Athletic’s NFL reporter Dianna Russini and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel embracing and spending time in a hot tub together at a luxury Arizona resort. The images of the seemingly cozy pair ricocheted across sports media circles, raising immediate questions about the boundaries between journalists and the figures they cover.

What looked like a problem for Russini, however, quickly became a broader issue for The Athletic’s top editor, Steven Ginsberg, who provided a statement to Page Six before publication dismissing the photos as “misleading” and lacking “essential context” and defending Russini as “a premier journalist covering the NFL.” For her part, Russini told Page Six that the images didn’t show “the group of six people who were hanging out during the day,” alongside her and Vrabel.

As the week progressed, Ginsberg’s knee-jerk defense of Russini began to look shakier, and far more complicated. Staffers who spoke to Status fear the subsequent backtracking from leadership has only exacerbated a potentially embarrassing situation, while turning what should have been an isolated matter into broader questions about standards and judgment in a crisis.

By Friday, Status had learned that The New York Times-owned sports vertical had opened an internal investigation immediately after first learning of the photographs. While the probe remains ongoing, Russini has been pulled from reporting duties as her coverage is reviewed. On Saturday, The Times itself finally reported on the developing investigation into her conduct, noting that editorial guidelines require “journalists avoid any activities that pose a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict, so as not to call into question their credibility.”

The timeline has raised uncomfortable questions for leadership at The Athletic, starting with a basic one: if the matter was serious enough to warrant an immediate internal review—and sideline a top reporter—why did Ginsberg rush out such an aggressive public defense before all the facts had been fully established?

Staffers inside both The Times and The Athletic expressed concern over the paper’s judgment on the matter, with one telling Status their handling of the situation was “unnecessarily messy.” Another questioned how Ginsberg could omit any mention of the investigation in his initial statement if the probe had indeed started immediately, calling it “reckless” and “premature,” or worse, “intentionally sneaky.”

Disparaging Page Six’s reporting before the details were known, only for the organization to later confirm an active probe, has created the appearance of leadership jumping the gun on its own due diligence. Whether the statement stemmed from an internal misunderstanding or an eagerness to defend a star reporter, Ginsberg’s handling of the episode has become a larger reputational headache for The Times than the initial tabloid story itself.

A spokesperson for The Times and The Athletic declined to comment on the ongoing probe. Ginsberg and Russini did not respond to requests for comment. But a person familiar with the matter said an initial review suggested the images lacked context about the larger group at the hotel, before new details emerged in the Page Six story itself that were deemed to warrant further investigation.

The Times is hardly alone in dealing with concerns about the relationships between reporters and the figures they cover, but the paper seeks to uphold the highest standards in that regard, which has made the allegations, and its response, particularly awkward.

However The Times and The Athletic seek to parse it, the sequence of events underscores the perils of seeking to slap down a potentially damaging story before having a clear picture of what transpired—and in this case, trying to mount a defense before knowing exactly what it is you’re defending.

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