There goes the MSM's future customers!
I wouldn't say that kids can't read. Maxim has changed the whole publishing industry for young America. Even Rolling Stone and Playboy have tried to alter their content to appeal to the 16-25 demographic.
Shorter articles are a part of that. Now it would be better to see a trend towards longer news items (as there are many lies of ommission) but at least fewer lines in an article means that it is harder to bury a lie within a news item or to clear an accused conservative in the final paragraph (sometime newspapers will alledge a serious charge on the front page and let the "part two" inside continuation clear up the allegations knowing full well that some people will just skim the headlines and first few paragraphs of articles to get the gist of a story.