Media and Public Relations

The John Locke Foundation works on a daily basis with print and broadcast reporters, talk-show producers, trade associations, civic clubs, and other groups to provide timely information and analysis of current controversies, promote JLF programs and events, and encourage spirited and constructive debate about the issues facing North Carolina.

Mitch Kokai, Director of Public Relations, generates press releases that are distributed via print, fax, and email. “Carolina Beat” is a weekly op-ed column written by JLF staffers and other affiliated writers. It appears hundreds of times a year in newspapers: dailies such as The Charlotte Observer and News & Record of Greensboro as well as smaller papers from the Tideland News to the Mountain Times. A separate, weekly syndicated column by President John Hood appears in newspapers in more than 50 North Carolina communities, with average circulation each week of more than 600,000 households.

Hood is also a weekly panelist on “N.C. Spin,” a statewide syndicated talk show appearing on 16 TV stations and 13 radio stations each weekend, including affiliates in Charlotte, the Triangle, the Triad, Asheville, Greenville, and Wilmington.

Donna Martinez, Roy Cordato, Chad Adams, and many other JLF staff members appear regularly as guests on news and public-affairs broadcasts in North Carolina and beyond. You may hear them frequently on such stations as WBT-AM in Charlotte, WPTF-AM in the Triangle, WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill, WSJS-AM in the Triad, WAAV-AM in Wilmington, WWNC-AM in Asheville, and WTKF-FM in Morehead City. Reporters from such media as The Charlotte Observer, the North Carolina News Network, and UNC-TV call JLF routinely for quotes and information. JLF staffers make about 3,100 appearances each year in the state’s print media and are seen or heard 3,200 times each year on radio or television. JLF also appears regularly in the national news media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, NBC News, C-SPAN, Fox News, CNN, and National Public Radio.

JLF analysts also spend a lot of time personally promoting the policy ideas they produce. They make more than 100 public appearances each year before civic clubs, chambers of commerce, educational institutions, and other groups. They testify at the legislature. They meet one-on-one with lawmakers, candidates, activists, and business leaders.

The organization’s ever-increasing presence on the Internet has also become a key element of its communications strategy. Through JohnLocke.org, CarolinaJournal.com, NCEducationAlliance.org, and LocalInnovation.org, it attracts some 600,000 unique visitors a year – with about 500,000 page views each month. Among its most popular features are “The Locker Room,” a staff-written blog on public-policy issues, and the original reporting and commentary posted each day at Carolina Journal Online.

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