​Former NFL insider Dianna Russini has once again come under scrutiny, this time over the accuracy of comments she made about a traffic stop rather than her journalism. After claiming in February that she FaceTimed an NFL head coach to try to avoid a ticket, newly released bodycam footage appears to contradict that account. Yet Tony Farmer, an NFL writer and podcaster, contends the bigger issue is not the FaceTime claim itself but why The New York Times and The Athletic, despite conducting extensive investigations, did not obtain or publish the bodycam video.
Center Square’s Adam Herbets obtained the seven-minute bodycam clip, which shows Russini’s full interaction with the officer but does not reveal any FaceTime call to a head coach. The footage shows her mentioning Brian Daboll at first, then discovering the officer is a Vikings fan, and later displaying texts with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell while commenting that the team’s quarterback “sucks,” a likely reference to J.J. McCarthy. However, Farmer argues that the footage raises far larger questions than the FaceTime claim. He says the real headline should be about why The New York Times did not have this video, suggesting that the Times was outscooped by The Center Square.
The New York Times recently published a detailed piece titled “Dianna Russini Was an NFL ‘Insider.’ Was She Also Out of Bounds?” which largely framed the controversy around her conduct. Farmer questioned how the Times could have spent months investigating the story without obtaining the footage Herbets secured quickly. He speculated that the Times either didn’t request bodycam footage (a sign of incompetence) or did request it but chose not to include it because it did not fit their narrative, implying fraud. He asserted that there is zero trust for The New York Times or The Athletic at this point, arguing that the investigation, which was intended to restore trust, is instead diminishing it.