Director
Darijan Košir
Darijan Košir was born on 2 December 1964 in Senovo. He went to primary school in Brestanica. In 1982, he graduated from Brežice Gymnasium. After his military service, he studied journalism at the Faculty of Sociology, Political Sciences and Journalism (FSPN) of the University of Ljubljana. He obtained his degree in 1987.
In March 1988 he began working for Delo newspaper publishing company, where he worked for 22 years, until May 2010. As a journalist in Delo’s foreign policy department he first covered the collapse of Communism in East Europe, and later wrote about Slovenian foreign policy during the period when the country was struggling for independence. It was at that time that he received the Most Promising Young Journalist Award from the Slovene Association of Journalists. In September 1992 he became Delo’s correspondent in Moscow, where he worked during the most turbulent times of the Russian transition until September 1996.
After returning home, he held various editorial posts in Delo, twice as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, during which time he introduced a number of development changes. He was editor of current affairs (1996–1997), editor of the central editorial office (1997–2003), editor-in-chief (first stint: 2003–2006), editor of the business section (2006–2007), deputy editor-in-chief (2007–2008) and between 1 July 2008 and 1 March 2010 editor-in-chief for the second time. In April and May he was engaged as an advisor to the management board. He continued to contribute to the newspaper and represented Delo in a number of debates and interviews. He has also attended many educational seminars abroad, most often in London, at the Guardian head office.
Darijan Košir is fluent in English, Russian and Serbo-Croatian, and has a working knowledge of German, French and Italian. He lives with his family in Ljubljana.
Organisation
Director:
Darijan Košir
Phone: +386 1 478 26 30
fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: darijan.kosir[@]gov.si
Divisions
Division for Media Relations:
Head: Branko Vidrih
Phone: +386 1 478 26 32
fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: branko.vidrih[@]gov.si
Communications Projects Division
Head: Matjaž Kek
Phone: +386 1 478 26 76
fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: matjaz.kek[@]gov.si
General Affairs Service
Head: Mirko Fabčič
Phone: +386 1 478 26 31
fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: mirko.fabcic[@]gov.si
Main Areas of Activity
The Government Communication Office is an independent professional service of the Slovenian Government with the following responsibilities:
- ensuring that the work of the Government is public and informing the domestic public about the work of the Prime Minister and ministries;
- preparing and organising communications campaigns relating to the most important programme priorities of the Government;
- informing the public abroad about the work of the Slovenian Government, of the Prime Minister, of ministries, of the President of the RS and about general events in Slovenia;
- providing professional support to the Government spokesman and public relations services within ministries and Government offices;
- organising communication campaigns and providing communication support during events of national importance in Slovenia;
- planning, carrying out and coordinating general promotional activities by the state;
- performs activities related to direct communication of the Government with citizens.
Subject to agreement, the Office performs other tasks for other national bodies.
The Office works independently and together with the Government Spokesman, with ministries and Government offices and with professional and academic institutions and experts in the relevant areas.
Within the Office, there are two divisions:
– Division for Media Relations and
– Communications Projects Division
Activities of the Division for Media Relations
- home media relations
- foreign media relations
- crisis communication tasks
- expert assistance to and administration for the Coordinating Body of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Public Relations Communication
There are two departments within the Division for Media Relations:
Domestic Media Relations Department (DMRD)
- informing the public about the work of the Government and the decisions adopted during its sessions;
- conducting press conferences on topical issues related to the work of the Government, the Prime Minister and ministries;
- providing professional support to the Government spokesman;
- drawing up press releases about the work of the Government, its working bodies and other official press releases;
- publishing the agendas of Government sessions, discussion papers and messages to the public on the Government’s and the Office’s web sites;
- together with the Government spokesman, coordinating the activities of the public relations advisors within individual ministries and Government services and offices, when they are dealing with the domestic media;
- monitoring reports in the media and creating collections of clippings from the domestic media;
- carrying out activities related to documenting and analytical tasks involving the monitoring, documenting and analysing of reports published in the media.
Head of the Department
Andreja Šonc Simčič
Phone: +386 1 478 2559
Fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: andreja.sonc[@]gov.si
e-mail: info.ukom[@]gov.si
Foreign Media Relations Department (FMRD)
- communicating with foreign media representatives (drawing up and distributing press releases on current political, economic, cultural and other issues of interest)
- planning and organising individual and group visits of foreign journalists to Slovenia and providing basic information services to foreign journalists visiting Slovenia
- providing communication support and organising press centres during high-level visits (heads of state or government) and other events important for the promotion of Slovenia
- providing information about Slovenia to selected or target foreign audiences
- monitoring and analysing foreign media reports on events in Slovenia and Slovenia's international activities
foreigninfo.ukom[@]gov.si
Head of the Department
Alenka Čebular
Phone: +386 1 478 26 23
Fax: +386 1 251 23 12
e-mail: alenka.cebular[@]gov.si
e-mail: foreigninfo.ukom[@]gov.si
Activities of the Communications Projects Division:
- direct communication with citizens
- country promotion
There are two sections within the Communications Projects Division:
Direct Communication Department (DCD)
- plans, heads and coordinates communication programmes and campaigns to support government programmes and/or projects
- provides expert and technical assistance in the preparation and implementation of government campaigns and projects at ministry levels
- prepares, carries out and coordinates communication projects on EU matters (Communicating Europe)
- handles direct communication with citizens (call centre)
- plans, steers and coordinates web communication projects (for the needs of the Office and government projects)
Head of the Department
Nada Serajnik Sraka
Phone: + 386 1 478 2627
Fax: + 386 1 251 2312
e-mail: nada.serajnik[@]gov.si
Country Promotion (CP)
- maintaining and updating promotional and informative material published on the web sites managed by the GCO;
- planning, conducting and coordinating general promotional and information activities and appearances by the state abroad, and following and analysing their effectiveness
- together with the government spokesperson, preparing and conducting organised communications campaigns, in particular those related to the most important presentations of Slovenia abroad
- publishing general promotional materials about Slovenia
- managing the national brand
Head of the Department
Valerija Mencej
Phone: + 386 1 478 2633
Fax: + 386 1 251 2312
e-mail: valerija.mencej[@]gov.si