There are many ways to read The New York Times’s recent story about its former star N.F.L. reporter, Dianna Russini: a meditation on the ethics of a modern sports “insider” getting too close to a source; a commendable act of transparency following the scandal that ended her tenure at The Athletic; another chapter in the ongoing palace intrigue surrounding The Athletic’s place within The New York Times Company; etcetera. Then there’s a legal dimension. The paper’s decision to scrutinize its own dirty laundry may seem like typical Times internal-affairs politics, but it was also a highly unusual decision by a media company to publish information that would ordinarily remain behind H.R. walls.