Actress Kim Cattrell was remarking recently on how her career as a "sex kitten" began at age 40, and all her tries at stardom before "Sex and the City" failed. It's true what they say, she noted, that no one knows anything.

No one seems to know anything in the Internet Content space either. That is, no one has really figured out how to make money at it. (This great illustration comes from a Canadian literacy group that does great work.)

I'm not just talking about blogs. God knows blogs are financial losers. If your blog doesn't lead to a job offer or at least some juicy freelance assignments you had better have a spouse with a good job, as I do, or you're going to be doing it from inside a cardboard box.

I'm talking here about the "professional" content folks, especially those in the newspaper business. They know how to make money in print, selling ads against content on pages. They have learned the magazine trick of knowing their customers names (newstand circulation is a thing of the past in most cities), and they take advantage of those databases.

For seven long years now newspapers have been going broke online, because they're too arrogant to consider that maybe this is a different medium. They insist on putting out the same product online they do offline, and frankly there is no demand for it. We don't need the same AP stories we can get everywhere else, and even in big cities like Atlanta the local news hole has dwindled to nearly nothing -- a few car crashes, some trials, the sports scores, and how to make a souffle rise (fold in the yolk-cheese mixture -- I just saved you 50 cents).

Their latest move is to go all-registration. This dramatically limits their audience and reach, but at least lets them replicate part of their "traditional" model. The industry remains too Clueless to figure out that, by at least sharing registration databases, and the registration process, they can keep their reach and get their data. Nope, they'd rather be stupid.

The industry has also chosen to hose its customers. The New York Times is the leader here (as they were the leader in registration), with video ads getting between "pages" (there are no "pages" on the Web) of stories, with "floating" ads that keep you from reading the start of the story (I for one have learned how to start on the third paragraph, then work up when the ad disappears) and pop-under ads that defy Google's Toolbar.

What the industry won't do is treat the Web as the Web. What the industry won't do is encourage interaction, both with the audience and within the audience. It won't find innovative ways to bring in news tips, or to build local communities, or to get amateur help in covering stories the paper lacks budget to cover.

The industry would rather hose its customers and stay Clueless than ask for help. I'm here if you want me.