Michele Zizza

Michele Zizza is an Italian journalist, communications professional and academic whose work focuses on strategic communication, institutional communication, disinformation and digital media. He has held communications roles within Italian public institutions, including the Carabinieri, the Ministry of Defence and the Presidency of the Senate. His academic research examines strategic narratives, information influence operations and the relationship between digital platforms and public communication.

Career

Zizza is a registered journalist and has held positions in governmental and parliamentary communications. From 2016 to 2018 he worked in the press office of the Carabinieri General Command, handling its social networks and institutional websites. By late 2018 he was managing the online communication strategy for the Italian Minister of Defence, and in November 2019 he became a press officer to the President of the Italian Senate. In September 2025 he was appointed head of communications at DEAS – Difesa e Analisi Sistemi, a company which works on the security of critical infrastructure.

He has appeared as a commentator on Italian television, including on La7's L'aria che tira in April 2022, where he discussed Russian propaganda during the war in Ukraine.

In December 2021 he was made a Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Academic work

Zizza holds a PhD in communication from the Sapienza University of Rome. His thesis concerned a protocol for public administrations on user-generated content and a technology for countering fake news.

He is a contract lecturer (docente a contratto) at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo, where he has taught digital cultures and social media, and he coordinates the university's first-level master's programme in Strategic Communication.

Publications

Zizza has written or co-written four books and co-edited a fifth:

He has also published articles and book chapters. In 2024 he co-authored an article with Livio Calabresi in Comunicazione politica on narratives and counter-narratives in strategic communication beyond traditional media. In 2025 he contributed to a book on information ecosystems and digital literacy in sub-Saharan Africa (in a volume on hybrid threats to national security).

References

  1. 1 2 Colombo, Daniela (5 November 2019). "Michele Zizza alla Comunicazione della Presidenza del Senato". PrimaOnline (in Italian). Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  2. ↑ "Da Adamo a Zizza, chi gestisce i social di governo e istituzioni" [From Adamo to Zizza, who manages social media for government and institutions]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
  3. ↑ "Michele Zizza assume la guida della comunicazione in DEAS". iMille (in Italian). 5 September 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  4. ↑ Propaganda russa, Michele Zizza: "È efficace e anche abbastanza affermata da diversi decenni, Zelensky arriva dal mondo dell'infotainment". L'aria che tira (Television broadcast) (in Italian). La7. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  5. ↑ "Zizza Car. Sc. Dott. Michele – Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Quirinale.it (in Italian). Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  6. ↑ "Dottorato in COMUNICAZIONE, RICERCA SOCIALE E MARKETING Alumni Michele Zizza". Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
  7. ↑ "'Sviluppo di un protocollo per la pubblica amministrazione: funzione degli user generated content (UGC) e studio di una tecnologia avanzata per il contrasto alle fake news' Zizza, Michele". Unitesi.
  8. ↑ "Michele Zizza". Unitus (in Italian). University of Tuscia. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  9. ↑ "Comunicazione Strategica". Università degli Studi della Tuscia (in Italian). Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Zizza, Michele; D'Errico, Annalisa (2018). Figli virtuali: Percorso educativo alla tutela e alla complicità nella famiglia digitale (in Italian). Erickson. ISBN 978-88-590-1713-4 – via OPAC SBN.
  11. ↑ Zizza, Michele (2020). La comunicazione digitale nell'Ufficio stampa del Quirinale e della Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana : storia e processi evolutivi (in Italian). Aracne. ISBN 978-88-255-3382-8.
  12. ↑ "IL PRESIDENTE DELLA REPUBBLICA Rassegna bibliografica" [President of the Italian Republic Literature Review] (PDF). Quirinale.it. SEGRETARIATO GENERALE DELLA PRESIDENZA DELLA REPUBBLICA. p. 48. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Polo bibliotecario parlamentare – Nuove Accessioni 2021/02 (PDF) (Report) (in Italian). Biblioteca della Camera dei deputati; Biblioteca del Senato. 2021. Item 1833 (p. 410). Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Zizza, Michele (2022). Introduzione alla comunicazione strategica applicata agli studi sulla geopolitica. Aracne. ISBN 9791221800487.
  15. ↑ Zizza, Michele (2025). Digitalizzazione, disinformazione, destabilizzazione. Editoriale scientifica. ISBN 9791223502587.
  16. ↑ Caramiello, Luigi; Zizza, Michele (2026). Potere cognitivo : analisi e modelli a confronto nei conflitti ibridi. Editoriale scientifica. ISBN 9791223506622.
  17. ↑ Calabresi, Livio; Zizza, Michele (2024). "Narrazioni e contro-narrazioni extra-mediatiche. I domini inosservati della comunicazione strategica" [Beyond media storytelling: Unobserved narratives and counter-narratives in strategic communication]. Comunicazione politica (in Italian). 25 (1): 107–128. doi:10.3270/113284. ISSN 1594-6061.
  18. ↑ Zizza, Michele (2025). "Ecosistemi informativi e alfabetizzazione digitale nell'Africa subsahariana: pubblici, consumi e accesso all'informazione". In Sassi, Silvia (ed.). Minacce ibride alla sicurezza nazionale: disinformazione e migrazioni (in Italian). Editoriale Scientifica. pp. 257–258. ISBN 979-12-235-0405-5. Retrieved 24 October 2026 – via IRIS Sapienza.