On Oct. 26, we offered a theory that executives at Knight Ridder, who are refusing to publicly discuss their efforts to sell their company, are the sources Mercury News writer Pete Carey is citing in his stories about KR. Yesterday, in a conference call with financial analysts, chief executive Tony Ridder was asked to confirm a Wall Street Journal report on planned cost-cutting at KR papers. He said, “You should not get carried away with rumors that appear in non-Knight Ridder papers,” according to E&P magazine’s online site.