Here’s an easy riddle. What can bore you and scare the hell out of you at the same time?

That would be an American news broadcast.

Whether it’s the nightly news on network TV or the 24-hour news channels on cable, I am amazed how many times I can get through a half hour without learning anything. I am seeing “new” news, but it’s the same old story.

Like any other entertainment program, these news shows are all about constructing comfortable narratives and dramatic story arcs. Even if it’s based in a real event, we’re not getting very close to reality.

Although journalists have long been telling stories, the modern news show reveals just how much a journalistic sensibility is, in fact, opposed to the standard storytelling sensibility. Reality is messy and challenging. In a ratings-based universe, that instability will never rise to the top.

I am hoping that Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS — over the story he was forced to retract concerning preferential treatment given to George W. Bush during his Vietnam War service in the Texas Air National Guard — will go a little way to exposing how unjournalistic American news has become.

Robert K. Bleckman at Blogcritics, though, says Rather’s career trajectory already acts as a microcosm of networks news’ decline:

Dan Rather, who once was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as CBS News’ “Six-Million-Dollar Man,” ascended to the CBS anchor chair during this “print to broadcast” transition period. While he almost always tried to stay true to print journalism standards, the pull of broadcast narrative biases was strong. His early work on CBS Reports adhered to the earlier standards of print journalism. His stint as a highly paid anchorman often descended into personal heroics.

Rather once walked off the news set when his time was pre-empted to carry the end of a sporting event. He thought he was making a stand for journalistic standards, but it was generally interpreted as a celebrity hissy-fit. The stress of working under new broadcast assumptions led Rather to end his nightly broadcasts with the admonition “Courage.” Compare that with Edward R. Murrow’s “Good night and good luck” or Walter Cronkite’s “And that’s the way it is.”

It is ironic, though not unexpected that, in being pilloried by the CBS brass, Rather has followed the path of the hero (see Joseph Campbell) and now returns to tilt at the corporate windmill.

So in the period of darkness, where is the light? Well, it’s coming from “across the pond,” as they say.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), whom American advocates for an authentic journalism have long envied (and whose broadcasts they have caught over the years in obscure corners of the radio and television universes), is finally producing a news broadcast specifically for an American audience. It premieres on October 1 and it will be shown on BBC America. Here’s the latest from their press release:

BBC AMERICA presents a signature nightly newscast showcasing the very best of BBC journalism in a new program aimed at U.S. audiences. Anchored from the BBC’s Washington DC bureau by Matt Frei, one of the UK’s most highly experienced foreign correspondents, BBC World News America will deliver in-depth reports on the major international and U.S. news of the day. Special packages from the BBC’s expert correspondents will go beyond the headlines to provide context and analysis on the national and international events that shape our increasingly complex world. And from the DC studio, Matt will interview newsmakers of the day and lead roundtable discussions featuring expert opinion from commentators and major players. Matt will be joined by Washington Correspondent, Katty Kay, who brings her wealth of experience as a DC-based reporter to cover U.S. news and politics. Katty will spearhead coverage of the biggest U.S. story of the next year ? Campaign 2008.

That’s jolly good news.