The study was conducted by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, a nonpartisan journalism watchdog organization.

I'm not surprised. We've seen it ourselves. However, what is interesting is how even the study is portrayed in the media. Look at the slant in each of the articles:

http://www.denverpost.com/nationalpolitics/ci_10789105
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/most_coverage_o.html
http://www.poligazette.com/2008/10/23/study-coverage-of-mccain-far-more-negative-than-obama/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14829.html
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/study-shows-mccain-media-coverage-negative/

This was left out of some of the slanted articles:

Much of the increased attention for McCain derived from actions by the senator himself, actions that, in the end, generated mostly negative assessments,” the study found. “In many ways, the arc of the media narrative during this phase of the 2008 general election might best be described as a drama in which John McCain acted and Barack Obama reacted.”