Mike Florio says Russini situation exposes a pattern across NFL media
The story goes deeper than any photos from Sedona
The photographs were troublesome in and of themselves. The New York Post’s Page Six featured photos of Dianna Russini, the NFL reporter for The Athletic, being photographed with her hand clasped with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel while embracing at a resort exclusively for adults in Sedona during the week of NFL Annual Meetings. Both are married. To one another, no.
Russini has been effectively suspended by The Athletic, while an internal investigation is undertaken. However, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the photos aren’t really the issue at all.
What does Florio’s critique reveal about the entire beat?
Florio’s writing on PFT linked the controversy to a larger phenomenon in the NFL media ecosystem. “At the end of the day you’re compromising your integrity and you’re undermining your own credibility in order to protect the free flow of information.” According to Florio, the situation involving Russini was the visible manifestation of a process that occurred continuously in the league.
This is a more severe accusation than what the photographs revealed. However, it resonates due to its veracity.
The focus on the quality of Russini’s reporting highlights Florio’s concerns. The news that the Eagles were trying to sell A.J. Brown to the Patriots had been called into question in a variety of ways.
Nothing improper had been established. Still, the hypothetical posed by Florio is that if Vrabel was using Russini to tilt the A.J. Brown deal in the Patriots’ favor, it would be possible for the NFL’s tampering policy to apply.
Internally, the handling of the situation by the Athletic and the Times has been clumsy enough that anonymous sources have spoken up about it.
According to a report by Natalie Korach via Awful Announcing, anonymous sources within both organizations referred to the outlet’s initial reaction as “reckless,” “premature,” and “intentionally sneaky.”
Russini’s agreement is thought to expire in August. The manner in which the problem will be addressed or ignored might offer insights into how seriously the parties involved take the question Florio is truly posing.
