MEDIA

The media play an important role in society by providing a platform for discussion, debate and dissemination of information. They are also an important stakeholder of ours as they provide us with a channel through which we can communicate with our other stakeholders, such as our customers. Accordingly, we need to make sure that the relevant members of the media are presented with the right facts and information and that significant issues are identified and explained fully so that topics and events are reported in an accurate and balanced manner.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIA

We maintain good working relationships with a wide variety of media representatives to ensure that our voice is heard on pertinent issues and to help provide information and guidance topics that are related to our areas of expertise. We are open to liaise with all members of the local, regional and international media. We work closely with both traditional and digital media houses and individuals — from radio and TV stations to print media publishers (newspapers, magazines) and digital media channels (news sites, bloggers, influencers and social media personalities).

We monitor our performance through regular independent assessments and through hosting events and engagements with the media. Our latest independent assessment, conducted by a leading public opinion research consultancy, suggested that we are one of the top three best corporate communicators in Kenya. We scored highly for being accessible and for responding promptly to media enquiries. The only areas where we scored slightly lower were (i) not directing our stories precisely (only pitching them to the specific media outlets that cover the subjects being discussed) and (ii) taking longer than anticipated to source senior leadership spokespeople for responses to stories.

Launched this year, the Safaricom Newsroom portal provides the media with ‘soft news’ stories and information

DELIVERING VALUE TO THE MEDIA

On a regular, ongoing basis, we deliver value to our media stakeholders by providing them with accurate, timely information, further guidance and context regarding complex issues or controversial statements, and access to appropriate company spokespeople.

During the year, we have made good progress in terms of addressing the two areas highlighted by members of the media during our most recent independent assessment. We have restructured internally and now target stories to different media channels and news outlets more specifically. We have adopted stricter protocols to decide which stories are newsworthy and have created more targeted pitching so that stories are not blasted to all media. Journalists may also access and filter our news stories through our Telegram channel: @SafaricomNews. We have also launched a news portal called Newsroom (https://newsroom.safaricom.co.ke), which enables journalists and other media representatives to browse and search for relevant stories. As well as reducing the volume of stories disseminated to journalists indiscriminately, the portal also covers community investment stories.

During the year, we also introduced internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for response times to media following a query. Naturally, enquiries that require a more senior spokesperson will take longer to organise, but we have agreed to respond to all media enquiries within 48 hours and we plan to reduce this time to 24 hours soon.

We are also pleased to be able to report that our efforts publicising the SDGs and the efforts of the company to integrate the goals are attracting media interest. We are now being approached for thought leadership with regards to the goals and sustainability on a regular basis. Initially, our CEO has been handling media interviews on this subject, but we have expanded our pool of SDG spokespeople this year to include Executive Committee (EXCO) members, with each director assuming responsibility for an SDG that relates closely to his or her division and areas of responsibility.