Review by The Athletic shows Dianna Russini’s failure to disclose relationship with Mike Vrabel violated company standards

An internal and intensive five-month review of former NFL reporter Dianna Russini’s coverage during her time at The Athletic determined that her failure to disclose her relationship with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel violated the sports website’s company standards.

The 2,800-word review, which was conducted by Mike Semel, an editorial director for standards and quality at The Athletic, was posted Thursday morning.

Russini, 43, resigned from The Athletic in April after the New York Post posted photos of her with Vrabel at a resort in Sedona, Ariz., which turned into a social-media uproar. The photos showed Russini and Vrabel, both married to other people, holding hands, hugging, and sitting next to each other in a pool.

The report offered no conclusions about the scope of their relationship, but Semek wrote that Russini was “noncompliant” with and in “clear violation” of The Athletic’s reporting standards.

“Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed,” the report said, noting that “the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy.”

Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, a week after the first photos ran in the Post. She said at the time she was resigning “not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.”

The report also said that Russini, after being confronted with the photos by the Post, waited two days before telling her editors about the situation. “She then told a story to explain the photos that did not align with facts, raising issues of trust,” the report noted.