When The New York Post’s Page Six broke the news about photos showing The Athletic’s NFL insider Dianna Russini meeting with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort, the outlet very consciously referred to her as “the New York Times’s top NFL reporter.”
The Athletic is owned by The New York Times, and the two outlets have a curious relationship to one another. It often feels as though the Times keeps the sports-centric outlet at arm’s length, making it clear that The Athletic is a separate entity. At other times, coverage from The Athletic is seamlessly integrated into The Gray Lady’s newspaper and website, making it seem as if they are one and the same, especially since the Times gutted its sports department after acquiring it.
That push-pull isn’t just something that is felt externally. According to Puck’s John Ourand, it is very much an internal battle as well. And the ethical concerns surrounding the Dianna Russini situation have apparently blown that divide wide open.
“The Times, of course, is not quite a media company but rather a loosely organized federation of warring factions, filled with tribal leaders with a penchant for nursing longitudinal feuds, petty and otherwise,” wrote Ourand in a recent edition of The Varsity newsletter.
He says that the Russini-Vrabel episode has reignited a “lingering antipathy” between the two sides, with some Times staffers griping that The Athletic’s reporters don’t operate under the same standards that they are required to. And try as Times management might to separate the two entities, what happens at The Athletic still reflects back on The Times’ reputation.
Ourand noted that this rising tension even ended up coming up in ongoing collective bargaining discussions, with the Times Guild demanding that The Athletic’s staff be brought into the union, which would simultaneously check management’s ability to acquire other non-union outlets and then use them to replace existing departments (like it did with The Athletic).
The whole sordid affair seemed like a big headache as soon as Page Six dropped the bombshell, but as the days pass and concerning reports emerge from the internal investigation around what happened, it sounds like this could be an inciting incident for corporate change between the two entities, for better or worse.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.