From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield. The Democratic Convention begins Monday, but early last week, news crews were already littering the parking lots and back alleys of Bean Town.

CNN's Judy Woodruff got there ahead of the pack and had to strain to fill her show with folksie tours of the USS Constitution,

but Fox and MSNBC personalities were just behind.

And now the stage is set for convention specials, the likes of which we've never seen before.

Or so they tell us.

With broadcast coverage paired to the bone,

all three major networks are down to three hours of coverage each per convention,

the cable channels have gone wild with self-promotion.

Of course, it's all about self-promotion for the Democrats, too,

an opportunity to roll out the

party stars and showcase their candidate in a stage production scripted to the last detail.

For the party, coverage is great, but the last thing it wants to make is news.

And chances are it will succeed in making sure nothing really newsworthy happens.

That's why the Boston Globe, which wants to be the convention paper of record,

will be hedging its bets with a two-page insert covering the coverage.

But if there's nothing to report from the podium, how about the after parties?

MSNBC's got that covered.

Joe Scarborough will be crashing every shindig with Ron Reagan in tow. Meanwhile, the band of Cable All-Stars, including Greta Van Susteren, Wolf Blitzer, and Chris Matthews, will be interviewing minor players in and around the main events. And if cable can't make this must-see TV, no one can,

because no one has more practice filling the airwaves with stuff.

But now a brand-new class of people with pencils

will be crowding the reporters on the convention floor.

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