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Bob Tucker, BJ '83

What do you do?
I am director of media relations at the Disneyland resort. My job is to be one of the liaisons between the Disneyland Resort and the news media. Disneyland Resort is two theme parks. One of them is Disneyland and the other is Disney's California Adventure. We also have three hotels and downtown Disney. With 20,000 employees, we are the largest employer in Orange County.

What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a lot of projects and events relating to Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration. We are also doing some work about the impact we have made in the community over the years. In fact, we released an economic study a few months ago that shows the Disneyland Resort has a $3.6 billion annual impact on the Southern California and helps support more than 65,700 jobs in the Anaheim area.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
As a television news reporter at the CBS affiliate in Orlando, I covered the Challenger accident. While that was a sad event in the history of the nation's space program, there is also a lot of learning that came from that and I think it helped improve the space agency. I believe the reporting that was done around the incident helped bring some of the issues to light. Before that incident, the relationship between NASA and reporters who frequently covered the space shuttle program was fairly cozy. After Challenger, I think reporters became more probing and in-depth on their coverage which ultimately led to a stronger space agency.

What is your favorite J-School memory?
A couple of events happened during my last few months at the J-School in 1983. One of them was Ted Koppel and Nightline's live broadcast from Jesse Hall. They let a couple of the seniors and KOMU-TV staffers work on that project, and it was a great learning opportunity. When the broadcast was over, there were a handful of us who got to sit down and do a one-on-one small group Q&A with Ted Koppel. And that was pretty inspiring. A few weeks later, our graduation speaker was Linda Ellerbee from NBC News. She delivered quite a motivating and funny speech. As a gifted writer herself, Linda stressed the importance of good writing in everything we do.

What are some recent trends in the entertainment industry that keep media relations folks like yourself busy?
The huge influence and increasing use of blogs. We are seeing this more and more, where these Web sites are getting inside information from various sources and are posting it. It creates issues with legitimate reporters who see the information and call us wanting comments. So we are grappling with how to work with these sites and try to figure out how to treat them so we are not offending legitimate journalists who follow procedures and are trained as journalists. At the same time, we are recognizing how more and more consumers are turning to these kinds of sites for very timely information.

What is your professional history, in a nutshell?
Television reporter from '83 to '92. Boeing public-relations manager at the Kennedy space Center from '93 to '98. Public relations director at Sea World San Diego from '98 to '03. '03 to present, media relations director at Disneyland Resort.

How did you make the jump from news to PR?
It was difficult at first. But it is easier when you realize that there are some very good core competencies that are consistent like writing and accuracy. It was helpful to know that those kinds of capabilities were just as important in my former role as a reporter as in my current one in PR. It's still hard, though, when there's late-breaking news. You have to contain yourself from jumping into it, wanting to go out and find more details. Like most journalists, I am always extremely curious and want to find out answers. Whenever news breaks I immediately jump on a Web site to find out what I can or turn on CNN. I think this is just in our blood.

What advantages did a Missouri journalism degree give you?
The hands-on training is invaluable. Graduating with a resume tape of stories from KOMU gave me a huge advantage over other graduates, because I was able to get a job with a news director who knew that I had lots of practical experience. There are also the networking advantages of keeping in touch with Mizzou J-School grads in the industry.

What has working with Mickey Mouse taught you about media relations?
The power of the brand. The Walt Disney brand is just amazing; people throughout the world know about Mickey Mouse, they know about Disneyland, and they know about Walt Disney. It's very important in the role that I have to be able to protect that brand and make sure that people will understand the company and what we do.