Dianna Russini's debut show as messy as scandal that preceded it | Opinion - USA Today

Dianna Russini's refusal to take accountability isn’t the only problem with her clownish comeback.

Whether it’s because no mainstream outlet will touch someone who ignored the cardinal rule of journalism, she thinks gambling is the future or she really is that tone-deaf, the NFL insider pinned her career hopes on a low-rent platform. And got exactly what anyone could have predicted.

A show that started more than 40 minutes late because the site couldn’t handle all the lurkers who wanted to see if Russini would own the elephant hovering over her. (Spoiler alert: She did not.) A production that managed to be both canned and stilted. An X account that didn’t even have a profile picture when her show launched.

Honestly, the A/V club at her local high school could have done a better job. Though they’d probably have had the good sense to steer clear of this latest flareup in the dumpster fire that was once Russini’s career.

This is what you get when you’ve convinced yourself you’re the victim in a soap opera you wrote, directed and starred in.

“Over the last few months, I have had a lot of time to think about my life and my priorities and the person I want to be moving forward,” Russini said at the start of the show. “Being home in New Jersey with my husband and our two little boys and being truly present, it gave me so much perspective that I didn’t even know I needed.”

And what happened these last few months? Why was she home? You’ll just have to guess because Russini glossed right over it, just as she did in her introduction video last week and that puff piece in People.

(I sent The Russini Report a message on X asking to talk with Russini about her first show. No response so far.)

Russini did allude to the scandal that cost her her job at The Athletic — photos that suggested her relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t entirely professional — later in the show, with guests Damon Amendolara and Spike Eskin. But it was done in a passive-aggressive fashion, as if to say everyone who’d made reasonable assumptions after seeing photos of Russini and Vrabel holding hands and kissing, or read The Athletic’s verdict that she’d violated their ethical standards, was the fool.

It’s that arrogance, the belief she doesn’t have to answer for her actions, that got Russini in trouble in the first place. And they’re what will prevent her from being more than a footnote in the NFL media landscape in the future. There are plenty of other reporters and insiders who don’t insult the intelligence of those following them.

Now, some will point out the unfairness of Russini losing her job and her reputation while the only repercussions for Vrabel were a few weeks’ worth of jokes at his expense. But sexist double standards aside, Vrabel didn’t violate the most basic standard in his profession.

Journalists learn early on that being too close to the people you cover can both cloud your objectivity and make readers doubt the truth of what you’re reporting. Trust is the only currency reporters have. Otherwise, we’re no different than the folks who used to write stories about Elvis sightings.

Whatever Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was, she had an obligation to tell her editors at The Athletic and let them make the call of whether she could still cover him, the Patriots and the NFL fairly. She didn’t.

That’s why she has born the brunt of the scorn and ridicule for this mess. Her credibility was ruined and, in the process, the credibility of The Athletic was tainted, too. To pretend that’s not what happened, or to act as if she doesn’t owe at least an acknowledgment of that, is as delusional as thinking some offshore betting site that has been the subject of cease-and-desist orders in multiple states is the best place to rehabilitate your reputation.

“I’ve also had a lot of long conversations with people all around football. Some were about the game, others were just about life,” Russini said. “… Those conversations helped me find my way back to the work I love and back to myself right here, hosting the show.”

Russini has no hope of an actual comeback until she owns up to what made it necessary. Until then, if we want to watch a mess, there's something better on Bravo.