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Anthrax scare, terror mistake take toll

American Media, publisher of the National Inquirer and other magazines, has yet to recover from the anthrax attack on its building in 2001. The crime is still unsolved.

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published September 11, 2006

	FIVE YEARS AFTER 9/11 A FIVE-DAY SPECIAL REPORT
	Our war casualties: A multimedia report It's Your Times: Share your thoughts Looking out for Roberta (9/3/6) THURSDAY: Facing a world without CeeCee By Meg Laughlin For a Florida family, the events that shook the nation were very personal and would be felt long beyond one infamous day. Go to article A Times reader shares how she was affected by 9/11: Life changes FRIDAY: Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Two By Meg Laughlin CeeCee Lyles was the glue that held her family together. When her plane crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, the family fell apart. Go to article Travelers now shrug off terror's price By Michael Kruse Early resistance to the inconveniences of security checks has given way to acceptance. Go to article A Times reader shares how she was affected by 9/11: History adds clouds of doubt for future SATURDAY: Faith's friction By Sherri Day A Tampa woman who lost eight relatives in the attacks converts to Islam as tensions simmer from the memories and new terror plots. But she presses on. Go to article Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Three By Meg Laughlin CeeCee Lyles' family broke apart after her death on 9/11. Time did not heal, it only seemed to separate them further. Go to article SUNDAY They grow up, very carefully By John Barry On 9/11, they were too young to comprehend what was happening. Now entering their teens, they speak with the solemnity of adults. They cope. And they pray. Go to article ON TAMPABAY.COM: A multimedia gallery of faces of Tampa Bay men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Go to gallery MONDAY Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Five By Meg Laughlin When CeeCee Lyles was born on Thanksgiving 1967, she had two mothers: her birth mother, Shirley Adderly, who was 17, and her adopted mother, Shirley's older sister, Carrie Ross, who was 28. Go to article She flies on, pain still there By Vanessa Gezari Kerry Firth says her job as a flight attendant has been altered by 9/11. She talks of "this constant, constant stress.'' Go to article Wrong guy By Alisa Ulferts Times Staff Writer Medical student Omer Choudhary and two classmates were wrongly singled out during 9/11 anniversary angst in 2002. Go to article

Nearly five years after surviving an anthrax attack, American Media Inc. and chief executive David Pecker are going through tough times of a different nature.

The company, publisher of the National Enquirer and other magazines, is caught in a financial storm of declining circulation and muddled accounting.

American Media lost its Boca Raton headquarters to anthrax contamination in October 2001. Health officials closed the building after photo editor Bob Stevens died from inhaling deadly anthrax spores sent through the mail.

The crime was never solved and the company never returned to the headquarters it had just spent nearly $15-million remodeling. Instead, it moved to offices two blocks away, leaving behind more than 8,500 boxes of photos, clippings and files.

In May 2002, American Media settled with its insurance company. Faced with huge cleanup costs, American Media sold the building in 2003 for $40,000 to a company formed by real estate developer David Rustine.

Today it remains vacant and under quarantine, awaiting government certification that Rustine's cleanup has been successful.

The company said the anthrax news hurt circulation because consumers were afraid to touch its magazines. Pecker called the anthrax incident and its aftermath a "nightmare." He complained about lack of governmental support and at one point threatened to move the company out of state.

However, American Media's problems continued long after the spotlight on anthrax faded. The magazine industry is losing ad revenues and readers to cable TV and the Internet. American Media faces particularly strong competition in its specialty of celebrity journalism.

National Enquirer's circulation fell from a weekly average of 1.47-million in 2004 to 1.16-million at the end of last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The company moved the Enquirer's operations from Boca Raton to New York to be nearer the celebrities it covers, then recently moved back to Boca to save money.

The brightest stars in the company's magazine portfolio are the glossy Star under celebrity editor Bonnie Fuller and Shape and Men's Fitness.

American Media has put five of its titles up for sale - Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Country Weekly and Mira! - folded three others and said it would fire 9 percent of its employees.

The company, which is privately owned but has publicly traded debt, has not filed any financial reports this year, making its current finances a mystery.

It reported $195,000 in net income on $537-million in sales for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. However, it has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that financial reports dating back to 2004-2005 "should no longer be relied upon" and will be restated.

Pecker, 55 and a part-owner of American Media, at one time had plans to take the company public. He did not respond to a request for an interview.

Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

[Last modified September 11, 2006, 01:59:57]