New York Times' Dianna Russini Story is Somehow About NYT Hatred of The Athletic

Why the New York Times Culture Hates The Athletic

On Wednesday, the New York Times published a lengthy article about Dianna Russini’s fall from grace. It was received by many in media as about Russini’s “there are no rules, but you break them at your peril” journey through the industry. That’s the plot but it’s not what the article is really about, in my opinion. Instead this is a public expression of a long simmering one-way beef between New York Times journalists and The Athletic.

Russini is a flashpoint in this feud because she represents a lot of what that Gray Lady culture resents about sports “journalists.” I’m generalizing, but these people look down on us, maybe even more so than sports fans tend to. Russini, a well-compensated middlebrow act with loose ethics, is an affront not just to their preferred standards, but also to their very identity as journalists. They hate that some people might categorize a person like this as sharing the same profession. “Dianna Russini Was an N.F.L. ‘Insider.’ Was She Also Out of Bounds?” is a well-written article. Based on what I’ve known for years, and given what I’ve seen publicly, it’s also turf war by other means.