News

In the latest episode of the GOVSI podcast, the guest is Michael M. Epstein, a U.S. expert in media law, who highlights the impact of disinformation on democracy, especially in the run-up to elections.

At the 23rd PRO PR Conference in Podgorica, the Director of the Government Communication Office (UKOM), Petra Bezjak Cirman, presented the Slovenian Stop Disinformation campaign: reREAD, reTHINK, RECHECK. In recognition of this campaign, the Government Communication Office received the Prizma 2024 Award, a top accolade in the field of public relations.

The National Election Commission (NEC) is intensively preparing for the parliamentary elections to be held on 22 March 2026. To ensure the smooth conduct of the elections, approximately 20,000 people will be engaged at nearly 3000 polling stations across Slovenia, making this the largest civic operation in the country.

In the latest episode of the government GOVSI podcast, host Zoran Potič talks with Maria Giovanna Sessa from EU DisinfoLab, an organization that has been studying the impact of disinformation campaigns for years and promotes building resilience against manipulative content in the digital environment.

Petra Bezjak Cirman, Director of the Government Communication Office (UKOM), chaired a panel at the #Disinfo2025 conference on how to initiate the »de-shitification« of our online experience. Experts Maarten Schenk and Marc Faddoul shared their views on how we can actively contribute to a better online experience and strengthen digital responsibility.

In his opening speech at the #Disinfo2025, Vojko Volk said that we are living in a very complicated and difficult time of disinformation. The State Secretary for National and International Security at the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia stressed that every day we are fighting disinformation, which is attacking our values.

Today, the Slovenian Government and the German Federal Government held bilateral consultations on fighting disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).

The Communication Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia received a professional accolade in the field of public relations, the Prizma 2024 Award. The Office was awarded for its comprehensively designed and implemented national campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the dangers of disinformation and promoting critical thinking.

At the invitation of the Polish Embassy, Petra Bezjak Cirman, Director of the Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia, attended a meeting of representatives of the diplomatic corps of EU member states (EU HoMS). At the meeting, she presented activities aimed at raising awareness and increasing resilience against disinformation, foreign information manipulation, and interference. Information security is one of the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.

The Director of the Government Communication Office, Petra Bezjak Cirman, presented the challenges of identifying disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference, and the awareness-raising campaign Stop Disinformation: reREAD, reTHINK, RECHECK, at the Strategic Communication in the Contemporary Security Environment training, which took place from 3 to 6 December at Jable Castle in Mengeš.

In recent days, a video with false and misleading claims about the possibility of entering Slovenia has garnered a lot of attention on the social network X.

In this episode of the GOVSI podcast, we discuss civil defense. Together with Boštjan Pavlin, the Director General for Defense Affairs at the Ministry of Defense, we explain the essence of civil defense and the difference between civil defense and civil protection.

October is Cyber Security Month in many countries, including Slovenia. In the 12th episode of the GOVSI podcast, Dr. Uroš Svete, Director of the Government Office for Information Security, and Petra Bezjak Cirman, Director of the Government Office for Communication, discussed this topic.

In the latest episode, Zoran Potič hosted distinguished American professor in the field of communication and public diplomacy, Nicholas J. Cull. They discussed the history of disinformation, the characteristics of disinformation today, and the challenges modern technologies and the increasing amounts of (dis)information pose to democracy.

At the panel Information Disruption: Strengthening the West's Resilience against Foreign Information Manipulation, Petra Bezjak Cirman, Director of the Government Communication Office (UKOM), presented the government's activities in countering disinformation to European students at the 12th Balkan SAYS (Security Architecture Youth Seminar) 2024 seminar in Ljubljana.

Director of Government Communication Office (UKOM) Petra Bezjak Cirman Meets with Chief of Staff to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy at Bled Strategic Forum.

To mark the launch of the Stop Disinformation: reREAD, reTHINK, RECHECK campaign, we're taking a closer look at this topic in a new episode of the GOVSI Podcast.

Have you heard about the invasion of bedbugs in one of Europe’s countries? And seen a photo of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket? Even if the news sounds credible and the photo on the screen in front of you looks completely real, these two cases are among the more well-known examples of disinformation that has been exposed.

In late April, Brdo pri Kranju hosted a gathering of communications professionals from various EU member states, candidate countries, and European institutions. The event was organized jointly by the Government Communication Office and the Club of Venice. Participants delved into two key themes: tackling disinformation and the communication challenges posed by the EU's expansion into the Western Balkans.

State Secretary Sanja Štiglic and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien hosted the fourth Strategic Dialogue between the two countries in Ljubljana. Established in 2020, the Slovenian-US Strategic Dialogue provides a framework for strengthening bilateral cooperation and exchanging views on all topical issues facing the international community.