We've talked before about the extent to which newspapers are losing circulation as readers make the decision to take a pass on ink-stained fingers and grab the news online instead.

Now comes some news that is, perhaps, not unexpected.  Newspapers are finding real growth ... online.

The following story comes from The Washington Post, which I found on Jim Romenesko's very good media news blog:

According to NAA data culled from more than 100 newspapers in most major metropolitan markets, unique visitors to newspaper Web sites rose 21 percent from January to December last year. Younger demographic groups reading online editions helped local newspapers extend their reach beyond the print market by 14 percent among 25- to 34-year-olds and 9 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds, the NAA said in its report, released at its annual convention this week in Chicago.

"People who are not necessarily engaged with the print product are increasingly using the newspaper Web site for news and information in their local market," said Randy Bennett, senior vice president of audience and business development at the newspaper association. "Blogs, video and other multimedia content beyond what appears in the newspaper are all having an impact on usage of newspaper Web sites."

Data from public newspaper companies indicate that online advertising revenue is growing at a pace that matches the double-digit increases in online readers over the past several years.

All good news for newspaper companies, to be sure.  The challenge, of course, is to make sure the written content these companies provide keeps up with the tastes of the new, online audience.  For many newspaper companies in many markets, it simply isn't.  Old-style newspaper prose just isn't good enough.  We've talked about this before as well.

In the not-too-distant future, the only people who will read newspapers will be those who really love to sit down and read good, well-written stories in the morning with their bagels and coffee.

This assumes, of course, that newspapers can deliver such a product.

Now, it seems, the future also includes those who will sit down at their desktops and laptops and follow the news while struggling not to spill coffee on their keyboards.

This is an even greater challenge, as good stories on paper are different than good stories on the screen.  Online stories can offer a rich multimedia experience -- and that takes work.  But the writing has to complement this.  Easily said, not easily done.

We'll have to sit back and wait to see if the newspaper companies can pull this off.  I hope they can.