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.