LOOKING FOR LIGHT.

This article discusses the events leading to what would transform life at The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper from the merely disheartening into the profoundly terrifying. It began to unfold shortly after 3 o'clock on the afternoon of last November 1 when Sandra Long, a deputy managing editor, appeared outside the glass wall of managing editor Anne Gordon's office waving a small piece of paper. Gordon returned a few minutes later and said, without obvious concern or alarm, that the largest holder of stock in the Inquirer's corporate parent, Knight Ridder, was demanding that the company be sold in order to boost the stock's sagging value.