Zenia Mucha

Zenia Mucha is Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications for The Walt Disney Company. 

Mucha is "in charge of all media relations, financial communications, employee communications, and corporate positioning" and "clearly a big part of how Disney handles sticky corporate situations, including the fights with Miramax over Fahrenheit 9/11, where she sparred with the Democratic [sic] Weinstein's for six months in the press," Matt Stoller wrote September 10, 2006, for MyDD.

Zenia Mucha was "perhaps the most feared woman in Albany during the [Governor George] Pataki years," SUNY's Alan Chartock wrote 2006 in AmeriQuests. "Mucha worked in the same job for Senator Alfonse D’Amato and she clearly believed that the press is not the friend of the politician, that you use them when you can, you never trust them and you keep the people you’re working for away from places where they can make mistakes."

"Zenia Mucha was Alphonse D'Amato's Karl Rove and she is a bitch on wheels. Spreading lies comes as naturally to Zenia Mucha as waking up in the morning. You can't have integrity and be Senator Al's top aide," Mrs Panstreppon commented September 2, 2006, at The Carpetbagger Report.

Controversy
"Disney, meanwhile, is working to overcome the beating it took from the media during the contentious final months of Michael Eisner's tenure, when PR chief Zenia Mucha brought a new level of bullying and antagonism to the company's communications strategy. Mucha was even exposed in court for lying to the Los Angeles Times about a dinner party Michael Ovitz had thrown for Tim Allen&mdash;a low point for Hollywood-media relations," Ted Johnson and Jill Goldsmith reported February 5, 2006, in Variety.

Profiles
Helen Smindak wrote August 25, 2002, in The Ukrainian Weekly that, "According to a story by Paul Tharp in The New York Post, Zenia Mucha, 45, who gave up work as adviser and press officer for former Sen. Al D'Amato and Gov. George Pataki at the start of 2001 in favor of working as a $400,000-a-year senior publicist for Disney in Los Angeles, is now in charge of everything at Disney, including ABC&mdash;from being chief spokesperson to all corporate positioning and global strategy."

According to her corporate bio, Zenia Mucha "has overall responsibility for both the communications policies and strategic positioning of The Walt Disney Company and its diverse global business segments, which include Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products. She serves as the chief spokesperson for The Walt Disney Company and oversees media relations and communications strategy." Since May 2002, she was "senior vice president, The Walt Disney Company, Corporate Communications."

Prior to joining WDC, Mucha was "senior vice president, Communications, for the ABC Broadcast Group and the ABC Television Network since joining the Company. Serving in that capacity beginning in February, 2001, Ms. Mucha oversaw the development, implementation and oversight of internal and external communications for the ABC Broadcast Group, the ABC Television Network and other ABC divisions. She also supervised various other activities, such as public service campaigns, audience information, internal publications and the ABC Foundation.

"Earlier in her career Ms. Mucha served first as director of communications and then as senior policy advisor to Governor George Pataki of New York State, where she earned a national reputation for her expert communications and political skills. She joined Governor Pataki in 1994 and is widely credited with helping the former State Senator achieve the recognition necessary to win the gubernatorial election."

Mucha left Pataki's office in December 2000. 

"Prior to joining the Pataki administration, Ms. Mucha served as press representative and then communications director to former United States Senator Alfonse D'Amato. Ms. Mucha managed Senator D'Amato's two successful re-election campaigns, in 1986 and 1992." 

Referenced In:

 * James B. Stewart, "DisneyWar", Simon & Schuster 2005 ISBN 0684809931.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * "The Path to 9/11" (2006 Docudrama)

Profiles

 * Zenia Much Corporate Bio, The Walt Disney Company.
 * Zenia Mucha Bio, ABC Medianet.

2001

 * "Honoring Zenia Mucha's Service to the State of New York&mdash; Hon. Thomas M. Reynolds. (Extensions of Remarks), February 8, 2001 (THOMAS).
 * Wayne Barrett, "Pataki’s Political Pick. Guv and Fonz Make Disneyland Selection for New U.S. Attorney," Village Voice, April 11-17, 2001.

2002

 * Nikki Finke, "Someone Fishy. Reeling in Michael Eisner," LAWeekly, August 14, 2002.

2004

 * "Steve Jobs blasts Disney during Pixar conference call," MacDailyNews.com, February 4, 2004.
 * Nikki Finke, "Disney Goes to the Dark Side. The Battle for the Mouse’s heart and soul reaches epic proportions," LAWeekly, February 26, 2004: "Facing off for Disney is corporate communications vice president Zenia Mucha, one of the crudest and cruelest mouthpieces to ever work for a media company (and that’s really saying something). Mucha (pronounced MOO-ka) was trained for combat by no less than the Republican Party (before the Disney gig, she repped New York Governor George Pataki and NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani [sic]). She makes the Mafia look like Milquetoasts." re Rudolph W. Giuliani
 * Kevin Roderick, "Disney's 'Warrior Princess'," LAObserved.com, March 24, 2004.
 * The Hot Button, April 10, 2004.
 * "GOP: Give Us Moore! Michael Moore, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, Zenia Mucha, Michael Eisner, Al D'Amato and more," New York Magazine, September 1, 2004: "Governor George Pataki insists he’s not thinking about the 2008 presidential race, but his denials seemed a little hard to believe with the sudden reappearance by his side this week of Zenia Mucha, the tough-talking political operative who left Albany in 2001 to become the top flack for Disney’s Michael Eisner."

2005

 * Alan Chartock, "George, it’s never to late to save yourself," WAMC.org, March 4, 2005.
 * James M. Odato, "Pataki press staff stays in line. But new director has at least instilled a more cordial approach," Times Union (Albany, NY), March 17, 2005.
 * Nikki Finke, "Not So Young Frankenstein. Robert Iger is Disney's new big cheese, but do they know the real story or just the Disney version?" LAWeekly (AlterNet), March 17, 2005.
 * Kevin Roderick, "Q-A with Nikki Finke," LAObserved.com, May 2, 2005: "There is no adjective in the English language to describe dealing with Zenia Mucha at Disney. All of us journalists talk about it, all of us know about it, and it may very well be one reason why you've seen the articles you have about Disney in recent years."

2006

 * Alan Chartock, "The Media and Me," AmeriQuests Vol. 3, No. 2 (2006); SUNY, Albany and WAMC Public Radio.
 * DevTob, "NY-20: Pataki pisses off Miami Mob Leader," Daily Kos, January 2, 2006: Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District, is "the daughter of Albany lawyer/lobbyist Doug Rutnik, a longtime fixture at the state GOP headquarters and the significant other of Zenia Mucha, the Walt Disney Company exec who was once one of Pataki's top political advisers."
 * Christian, "PR Seppuku averted? Mucha mucho eager to fall on her sword," fishbowlNY/Media Bistro, January 28, 2006.
 * Ted Johnson and Jill Goldsmith, "Hit the mute button. Squirming in spotlight, media co's flummoxed by press," Variety, February 5, 2006.
 * James M. Odato, "Doling out tax dollars in secret. State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver won't lift shroud on how pork is spent by state legislators," Times Union (Albany, NY), June 11, 2006. See page 4.
 * Matthew Yglesias, "Hitler versus Coulter," TPM Cafe, June 23, 2006. See comments: June 18, 2006 (Mrs Panstreppon).
 * Mrs Panstreppon, "Transcript of 6/6/02 Johnelle Bryant Interview by Brian Ross, ABC News," TPM Cafe, June 28, 2006. Contains references to Zenia Mucha.
 * "ABC 'docudrama' on 9/11 continues to draw fire," The Carpetbagger Report, September 2, 2006. See comment #8 by Mrs Panstreppon.
 * Matt Stoller, "Mickey Mouse's Karl Rove, Zenia Mucha," MyDD, September 10, 2006.
 * Mark Raven, "Logical Consequences. Another possible trail on The Path to 9/11. Try Zenia Mucha," TPM Cafe, September 10, 2006.