Let it snow, let it snow

Okay, so my new year's resolution didn't get off to the best start, but better late than never.

I'm blogging today because I've been struck by how today's incredible weather events have really shown how newspapers can take on - and outdo - TV and radio in covering breaking news.

The last time I experienced snow like this was during the Big Freeze in 1987, when I was very small. My memories may be getting a little mixed with the hurricane of the same year, but I can remember my mum tuning to the local radio to try and catch news of whether my primary school was open. There was also fairly comprehensive news there on transport and all other weather-related goings-on. But - you had to wait patiently through all the inane phone-ins to make sure you heard the news relevant to you.

Today, long before the schools opened, we had a first draft of school closures online - and our readers were helpfully adding to it before our scattered skeleton staff could. So I think newspaper websites win hands down there.

I lived in a town with a thriving daily newspaper, but I would be surprised if it managed to get its edition that day out to all the newsagents it usually did. However today, we had fairly comprehensive coverage online within a couple of hours, including readers' pictures and videos - as well as the equivalent of a week's letters pages by the end of the day.

I know I'm not saying anything new here - it's just that today really brought home the huge strides online journalism has allowed local newspapers to make in the last 20 years - and in that sense, the future looks bright.

Er, hello there . . .

So, this is my first blog. A brief taste of microblogging on Twitter has made me realise I'm far too much of a bigmouth to restrict myself to 140 characters, so here I am.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be using this space for yet, hence the tentative start. But I think it's going to be based on my experiences working for a weekly UK newspaper, the Croydon Advertiser, and its website, which I hope is about to really spread its wings and fly.

Thrillingly, I've been given the challenge of helping relaunch the site and I'm getting really excited about what online has to offer. It's come a looong way since I first worked on websites, back when I first graduated and the noughties had scarcely begun. And although the changes it's making to my trade, journalism, are bewildering and often scary, they're also thrilling.

Anyway, that's enough waffling for now. I promise I'll be a bit more prepared for my second post. At least I've got the first one out of the way . . .