Is shorter better?

The editor of the Washington Post, Len Downie, sent a email to his newsroom Wednesday demanding shorter inch-counts. "Writers need to take responsibility for earning every inch of their stories," the memo says. The entire memo is reproduced by the Washingtonian website. Is this smart editing or is this yet another example of the written word aping other forms of media? If it's the latter, why bother? Why would people turn to a newspaper for short writing when they can more easily go elsewhere? Such as Yahoo's use of Reuters and AP in little nuggets of information. Aren't we writing ourselves out a of job? Shouldn't newspaper write longer in order to provide greater, more analytical, understanding?

And last question: Why do news organizations strive to be like their competitors? Shouldn't they be doing everything possible to not be like them? Have we ever heard of branding?

See related post: "Bad Arts Writing: Part 2."