On Tuesday, Dianna Russini formally resigned from her post as an NFL insider at The Athletic amid the publication’s internal investigation into photos published last week depicting her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel together at an Arizona resort around the time of the NFL’s annual league meeting.
The photos, published by Page Six, show Russini and Vrabel embracing and laying side-by-side in a pool together in a way that could suggest a level of impropriety when viewed by a reasonable person.
In her resignation on Tuesday, Russini characterized the fallout from the pictures as “self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts,” though did not address some seeming inconsistencies between her version of events given in an initial statement to Page Six, and the lack of corroborating evidence in the days since.
The incident has sparked numerous opinions about how Russini’s behavior impacts women in sports media writ large. Some women in sports media suggest that scandals such as the one involving Russini risk discrediting the work of all women working in sports media, while other women in the business believe it is unreasonable to suggest that the actions of one woman can jeopardize the credibility of all women in the industry.
At the heart of this debate is a column published by USA Today writer Nancy Armour titled “Dianna Russini put credibility of all women in sports at risk.”
In her column, Armour asserts that “Russini made it harder for every single woman in sports, regardless of what we cover, to do our jobs. By risking her own credibility, she’s put ours in jeopardy, too.”
She continues:
“Every woman in sports journalism I know has had conversations about how to build relationships with the people we cover in a way that makes it abundantly clear we have no interest in anything else. How do you ask for a phone number? Can you get drinks alone with a coach or GM if it’s in a public place, or does it have to be with a group of reporters? How can you have repeated conversations with the same athlete without it raising eyebrows? If an athlete (or coach or front-office person) is pushing boundaries, what’s the best exit strategy without burning bridges?
“These are not questions our male colleagues have to ask, mind you. Just as I doubt most men in sports give themselves the once-over before leaving for a game or an event to make sure what we’re wearing doesn’t send the wrong message or match the colors of a team we’re covering.”
The overarching thesis of Armour’s piece is that women in sports are already fighting an uphill battle for credibility, and when one woman affirms the largely unfounded narratives that female reporters are simply in the field to hook up with athletes or sleep their way into positions of power, it discredits all of the work that the vast majority of women reporters do while remaining within the bounds of journalistic ethics.
Multiple women in sports media took issue with Armour’s framing. Veteran sports radio host Maggie Gray responded directly to Armour’s column on Tuesday, saying she disagrees with the premise “wholeheartedly.”
“There are many talented women reporting and breaking sports news (including Dianna) and all of their work is suspect now? Hardly,” Gray wrote.
“Did all sideline reporters take a hit because two prominent ones admitted they fabricated stories? No,” the radio host wrote, alluding to Fox and Prime Video host Charissa Thompson’s admission that she had fabricated sideline reports.
“Did all the male news breakers get called into question when one of them referred to the Washington GM as ‘Mr. Editor’ in an email and let the GM change the info as he saw fit? No,” she wrote, referring to an incident in which ESPN’s Adam Schefter seemingly allowed then-Washington GM Bruce Allen to edit a forthcoming report.
These instances go to show that the poor actions of an individual are typically not held against the collective.
Netflix sports anchor Elle Duncan also weighed in, though didn’t address Armour directly.
“If you’re dense enough to equivocate the actions of one to all, you’re probably a sexist who was looking to dismiss a woman’s career trajectory anyway. This is not new and we’ve ALL had ppl at some point in our career reduce us to a DEI hire, a hot girl hire, or a sleeping around hire. OLD TRICKS! Don’t fall for it,” Duncan posted on social media.
It’s completely fair to say that among a certain audience of sexist, media-skeptical consumers, the Russini scandal will further confirm their priors about women sports reporters. If that’s the audience Armour was referring to in her column, or if Armour believes that a large portion of sports media consumers fall into that category, then she was well-reasoned.
However, among an audience of sports consumers that don’t view women in the industry as a monolith and are willing to view the Russini scandal as the actions of an individual and nothing more, the points raised by Gray and Duncan are more salient. The actions of Dianna Russini will likely have no bearing on how the average football fan views coverage from Jane Slater or Amy Trask or Erin Andrews. And if it does, that’s on the fan, not the women covering football.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.