media - That's empire falling apart


The headline of the interfax story on the dismissal of That's founder Mark Kitto ("Chairman outsted by staff") is slightly misleading, as two leading staff members organized the coup. That's staff members, for example in Beijing, hold a rather dissenting view on the events.
While the short history of That's shows that it is for a printed medium very hard to survive without the proper licenses, working through the official channels is an equal nightmare and might prove that setting up this kind of business still has severe problems in the long run.
Editors in Shanghai have walked out in protest, and in Beijing other moves to rescue the current team are being considered.