Notice Italian leader is put forward (6)
I believe the answer is:
adduce
'put forward' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'notice italian leader' is the wordplay.
'notice' becomes 'ad' (both can mean an advertisement).
'italian leader' becomes 'duce' (Benito Mussolini was known as Il Duce).
'ad'+'duce'='ADDUCE'
'is' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adduce that I've seen before include "Agreement, harmony" , "Cite in support" , "Quote in evidence" , "Cite as example or proof" , "Bring up in discussion" .)