Jeralyn Merritt - Internet Journalism

Internet Journalism

Merritt is the creator of CrimeLynx, an online legal resource for legal professionals and the general public, and a blog called TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime, which is a three-time winner of a Koufax Award for best single-issue blog in 2002, 2003 and 2004 (in 2004 TalkLeft shared the award with Grits for Breakfast), and a 2006 winner of the Weblog Awards for "The Best of the Top 250 Blogs". TalkLeft became one of the blogs featured in "The Ruckus" section at Newsweek Online in 2007.

Merritt covered the United States v. Libby trial on TalkLeft, and with Jane Hamsher and Marcy Wheeler, was among the first bloggers to receive fully accredited media passes to a U.S. federal trial and during which they also appeared on PoliticsTV.com for a round up summarizing each day's trial events. Her blog posts on the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial appeared in FireDogLake and The Huffington Post. On August 2, 2007, Merritt moderated a panel discussion at the 2007 YearlyKos Convention, featuring Christy Hardin Smith of Jane Hamsher's Firedoglake and Marcy Wheeler of The Next Hurrah, relating their experiences "liveblogging" the Libby trial. The panel also included Sheldon L. Snook, Chief of Staff to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who was "the court official in charge of news media at the Libby trial."

TalkLeft was accredited as a national blog at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver, Colorado, from August 25 through 28, 2008, posting photographs of celebrities from both the Pepsi Center and various other convention venues in Denver and cross-links to other bloggers' reports and photographs. Recently, she has consolidated spaces on TalkLeft for archived and ongoing discussion board topics such as the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

In addition to blogging at The Huffington Post and for Elevated Voices, published in 5280: Denver's Mile High Magazine, Merritt has guest blogged for Eric Alterman's Altercation. She has also occasionally served as a guest columnist for newspapers such as the Rocky Mountain News, and as a guest moderator for online discussions on legal issues for The Washington Post. Merritt has also been featured in a number of online videos and podcasts in which she discusses legal and political issues, such as the Libby trial, the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy, and Hillary Clinton.