In 2008, the U.S. cities hosting the Democratic and Republican conventions are being overrun with about 15,000 journalists.

Major American networks are sending their finest correspondents, bloggers will be out in force, and smaller outlets are finding hotel vacancies a distant memory and wireless-equipped workstations scarce.

Despite what the media frenzy might suggest, conventions don’t tend to be newsworthy. We already know Barack Obama and John McCain will be their parties’ nominees; we’ll know their running mates before the conventions convene; and we know the party platforms will be written broadly and probably blandly. The news media traditionally complain about conventions, using terms like “empty ritual,” “staged” and “choreographed.”

In 2004, The Weekly Standard’s Andrew Ferguson theorized each city actually is hosting two separate conventions – one for the delegates and political activists, and another for the journalists. As the political side has grown “wan and meaningless,” the media presence has become “larger, more elaborate, and more robust.” Journalists are expanding coverage for their own purposes, Ferguson argues, stating, “The parasite has consumed the host.”

In 2008, Slate.com’s Jack Shafer urged the news media either to limit its coverage to the bare-bones feed from the government/public affairs channel C-SPAN, or else hire effervescent sportscasters who “know how to make a game with a foregone conclusion seem entertaining.”

To which many journalists respond, “Wait – this year it’s different!” Ted Koppel, the former ABC anchor who walked out of the 1996 Republican convention in bored frustration, will be an analyst for BBC America. He told Courant.com blogger Roger Catlin, “This has been one of the most remarkable political years we’ve ever seen.”

CBS’s Jeff Greenfield says much of his coverage will focus on the supporters of runner-up candidates. “In both conventions, I would guess roughly half the delegates wanted somebody else,” he said.

Based on polling data from four years ago, Americans enjoy the media fixation on national conventions. The Vanishing Voter Project at Harvard University reported 63 percent of respondents said conventions are important because they provide an opportunity to get to know the candidates better.

For an inside look at what’s going on at the convention, check out our elections blog, Campaign Trail Talk.