Report: The Athletic will continue its investigation despite Dianna Russini's resignation

Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic during a company review of her work, in the aftermath of the publication one week ago of photos with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.

The Athletic will nevertheless continue its investigation.

Jeremy Barr of the Guardian reports that Steven Ginsberg, executive editor of The Athletic, has sent to staffers a Slack message confirming that Russini has resigned.

"While I can't share the details of our investigation into Dianna's conduct, I want to emphasize that the leadership of The Athletic has taken this matter seriously from the moment we learned about it," Ginsberg reportedly wrote.

The message explains that the review of Russini's work will continue.

"When this situation was brought to our attention last week, there were clear concerns, but we received a detailed explanation and it was our instinct to support and defend a colleague while we continued to review the matter," Ginsberg wrote. "As additional information emerged, new questions were raised that became part of our investigation."

As explained in a prior item, Russini’s resignation may have been intended to prompt The Athletic to terminate its investigation. Her contract with The Athletic was due to expire on June 30.