BBC Scotland comes out gunning despite taking flak: Atholl Duncan interview

The jeans clad, iPad wielding executive, surveys the scene from the top floor corner of his impressive River Clyde HQ – inspired by starchitect David Chipperfield – and likes what he sees.

Behind him sits a well resourced team of around 230 – which as well as producing Scottish content have knocked out some strong editions of Panorama and will now be looking after Question Time – while through the glass, further along the quayside he can see the the toylike building of his primary competitor STV.

This building does not appear diminutive through some trick of perspective. It is simply dwarfed by the huge BBC edifice, which dominates every building in the vicinity.

The discrepancy is down to the simple fact that one operation is funded through advertising, while the other is funded through the licence fee.

However, Duncan is unapologetic. He paraphrases BBC Director General Mark Thompson to make the point, “Just because most other areas of the media is in trouble does not mean you have to harm the BBC, which is one area the BBC audience believe is still working.

“And I think it is because other areas of the media have come under threat because of the advertising downturn that more people are becoming aware of how important the BBC really is.”

In view of the flak the BBC has been getting in the media of late, with rows about everything from funding, to the antics of the likes of Jonathan Ross, Duncan's confidence might seem surprising.

But to him opinion of the BBC is highly polarised between the politicians and media rivals on the one hand and the punters on the other.

“It’s like a parallel universe,” he says, “If you read the media it looks like the BBC is in turmoil. But yet our audience and satisfaction figures have never been stronger. And trust in the BBC is actually increasing.”

Indeed the statistics Duncan rolls out are impressive. Since he took the role in 2006, after returning to the BBC from Scottish Water, the number of Scots who get their news from the BBC has risen from 75% to 80%. The 5% number may not sound impressive, but that equates to an additional 250,000 people who tune in every day.

Meanwhile flagship show Reporting Scotland is now viewed by around 550,000 every day, up from 460,000 in 2006.

“In terms of Reporting Scotland,” said Duncan “we are now seeing figures we have not seen for a decade. With all the turmoil in the market, the rise of the internet and so on, people had predicted the decline of tea time shows. But they have been proved wrong. This figure is phenomenal.”

However, one area the adjective 'phenomenal' does not apply is to the performance of Radio Scotland. “Of all areas that I am responsible for radio remains the biggest area of challenge,” he said, “That is why the BBC Trust is reviewing what Radio Scotland's role in the world is.”

If Radio remains the biggest challenge – with audiences peaking at around 150,000 during the Good Morning Scotland show – online is one of the biggest successes.

“The online figures in Scotland,” he says, “have gone from 800,000 unique users per week in 2006 to 2.3m. What is interesting is that in the early days the big peaks were around major stories like the Airport terror attacks or the release of the Libyan Bomber. Now you see that the smaller stories are getting the big peaks.

“I think this demonstrates that four or five years ago people only went online for the big stories. But now they are online all the time – it is just simply part of their lives.”

It is certainly a part of Duncan’s life – so immersed in the world of digital that this head of news no longer reads printed newspapers.

“I actually read newspapers on my iPad now – I no longer buy a physical paper.”

Tomorrow, Atholl Duncan on what Scottish newspapers need to do to protect market share.