Why Did Dianna Russini Leave ESPN For The Athletic?
Dianna Russini departed ESPN for The Athletic earlier this month. However, know we have some more details for the story. The NFL reporter talked about what made her leave ESPN for The Athletic.
“I did walk away,” she told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “It wasn’t a situation where ESPN didn’t want me. I love ESPN. They’ve given me so much opportunity and the people I’ve worked with were incredible. It was a really difficult decision for me, for my family. But it really came down to recognizing at ESPN I wasn’t going to change roles. There was no elevation there for me based on my conversations with the company. They did not have a vision outside of what I currently do.”
I have some thoughts. I hope I don’t get too obnoxious about it. Feel free to tell me if I have done so.
Russini sucks. She just does. Click the link in the first paragraph and I list a few examples of times she’s lied and we posted stories on incorrect information because she botched it. “No elevation” WTF did she want? Did she think she deserved to be promoted past Adam Schefter? I mean, c’mon. Half the time Schefter gave her credit on his scoops. We all know he never had to.
I mean seriously. “No elevation”. That’s a joke. You’re on NFL Live. You are tasked with reporting news. Be a better reporter and the recognition will take care of itself. If you break more scoops than Schefter, maybe we can talk about a promotion then. Otherwise, get real noob.
In fairness, Russini essentially was asked to pick straws from two sinking ships. ESPN is in turmoil. The Athletic has still quite literally never turned a profit. Russini was also asked to talk about her new trash bag home.
“The Athletic, through conversations I had with all the people in charge, just has an endless amount of roles and ideas for me,” she said. “They want information. They want a storyteller. They want someone with personality. Once I realized they were pretty much handing me over a blank sheet of paper that basically just said go be who you want to be, I realized that this could change my life.
“The Athletic showed that they value me more than ESPN, for sure.”
This is so pathetic. I don’t even like ESPN, but what are we even talking about? There’s just no way anyone at ESPN told her that she’s not allowed to write. There’s just no way she wasn’t allowed to be a storyteller before. Your job is to report the news. What boundary are you breaking now that you’re behind a trash paywall that nobody who is educated wants to pay for.
Russini also wants you to know that she’s a TV free agent
“I’m a TV free agent for the first time in a while, and that was the gem in all of this,” she said.
Soooooooooo The Athletic paid her all this money so that they don’t get her video content rights? Is that real? You can’t even make this up. What a joke. She’s a joke and so is the company she now works for. Noobs.
