There are still some things about the news business that haven’t changed, despite the Internet Revolution(TM). But there are new opportunities that can work — if everybody can play nice together.

The evidence I’m using for this is a study done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism that put a microscope on a week of news coverage in Balitmore back in July.

The study looked at pretty much everything happening news-wise in the Charm City: Traiditonal media like the Baltimore Sun and airwaves, independent news Web sites, random bloggers, even Twitter.

You can read a deeper report on the study here at Poynter. But here’s a rundown:

*96 percent of all original reporting was done by “legacy media” (that would be your newspapers, television, radio, magazines). This original reporting was first broken in both “legacy platforms” (ink of paper, boob tube, etc.) or digital platforms (Web sites, mobile services, social media, etc.)

*In fact, here’s the detailed breakdown on original reporting: 48 percent general interest newspapers, 28 percent local TV stations, 13 percent specialty newspapers, 7 percent radio station Web sites, 4 percent new media.

*12 of 53 news outlets the study followed produced nothing during the one-week period.

*The traditional media had an excessive reliance on official versions of events and is not doing the amount of enterprise work that it did in the past.

What does all of that really mean? Basically, here’s my interpretation of it: First, the bulk of new media journalism isn’t so much reporting as it is people giving their thoughts on other’s reporting. The 4 percent shows that, in fact, originally reporting is as possible in new media as in any other form, just the practicioners aren’t interested in doing so thus far. This is due in part to just the number of bodies. From the Poynter piece:

“There is very limited capacity to do original reporting, let alone enterprise reporting,” PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel said in a telephone interview Friday. “The new outlets just don’t have a lot of staffing, and the old media — which had been set up with a lot of reporters — are now much smaller.”

But there is potential for great stuff if everybody can come together. There’s an example given towards the end of the piece that I’ll let you read on your own that shows how good things can be if there isn’t an “us vs. them” mentality between new and old media.

The question remains though: Is there enough money out there for enough to survive to foster that environment?

Well, if Dave Barry still worked at the Miami Herald full-time, you could donate to keep him employed.

The Herald has gone the way of NPR and PBS and is now accepting donations on its Web site.

The donation business model has been discussed for online journalism alongside the pay wall concept. Start-ups have tried it, but the Herald is by far the largest print product to give the concept of voluntarily giving money online a shot.

So let’s throw it out there: Would you donate money to keep a local newspaper going online?