Davin "Hutch" Hutchins
Digital Editorial Director, MBN Digital
- Location
- Washington D.C. Metro Area
- Industry
- Online Media
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Davin "Hutch" Hutchins's Overview
- Current
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- Digital Editorial Director, MBN / Managing Editor, Middle East VOA (BBG) at Middle East Broadcast Networks
- Past
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- Digital Media Strategist / Producer / Consultant / Founder at NomadsLand LLC
- Director, ITVS / PBS IndiesLab at Public Broadcasting Service
- Guest Lecturer (International Information Programs) at U.S. Department of State
- Adjunct Professor, Film and Broadcast Production at American University
- Managing Producer at American News Project (ANP) - Partnership with The Huffington Post
- New Media Consultant / Broadcast Journalism Trainer at Internews
- Director and Producer, The Art of Flight at NomadsLand LLC
- Segment Producer / Field Producer / Writer at Tech TV
- Segment Producer / Field Producer / Writer / Associate Producer at CNN
- Education
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- The American University in Cairo
- California State University-Fresno
- Recommendations
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17 people have recommended Davin "Hutch"
- Connections
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500+ connections
- Websites
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Summary
Davin Hutchins is an award-winning journalist, manager, motivator, digital strategist, video producer and consultant specializing in the Middle East, international social issues, media training, social media, video and digital platforms.
Currently, Hutchins is Editorial Director at MBN Digital - the digital division of Middle East Broadcasting Networks which includes Alhurra and Radio Sawa, part of the the BBG family of international broadcasting. Before this, Hutchins was Managing Editor of Middle East Voices at Voice of America / BBG where he conceived of an Arab Spring social journalism site and supervised a team of multimedia reporters covering grass-roots democratization in the Middle East. The site won the Topical Reporting category in the 2012 Online Journalism Awards (ONA) beating CNN and the New York Times (Nate Silver's Political Calculus Blog).
Before VOA, Hutchins was the Director of IndiesLab at PBS & ITVS. In this role, Hutchins helped define PBS and ITVS strategies to help documentary work in the digital age. He worked with Independent Lens, iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, SnagFilms, Netflix to raise profile of independent documentary titles.
Hutchins has worked for and with CNN, CNN International, BBC World, Headline News, TechTV, Witness, Internews and Huffington Post. His projects and assignments have taken him across the Middle East and Africa.
In 2008-09, he was Managing Producer at American News Project in Washington, D.C. He produced investigative video reports on U.S. politics and the 2008 presidential elections which appeared on Huffington Post, Al Jazeera English and CNN. His video reports have tallied more than 2 million views.
Among career highlights, Hutchins directed The Art Of Flight in 2004-05, his feature documentary debuted at AFI Fest Hollywood, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam and Bangkok International Film Festival. He also trained journalists in the West Bank, Syria and Jordan in 2007-09.
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Experience
Digital Editorial Director, MBN / Managing Editor, Middle East VOA (BBG)
Middle East Broadcast Networks
Nonprofit; 501-1000 employees; Broadcast Media industry
January 2011 – Present (2 years 6 months) Washington, DC Metro Area
DIGITAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, MBN (BBG)
July 2012 - Present
- Co-lead on launching MBN Digital division of more than 30 employees including restructuring and talent acquisition
- Directly supervised Managing Editor, 4 Assignment Editors and 16 reporters in producing original news and digital projects for an Arabic audience on Alhurra.com and RadioSawa.com
- Helped define long-term digital strategy for MBN, BBG including engagement content, mobile app development
- Supervised content, QC for mobile website and iPhone and Android app launches
- Co-lead on SyriaStories.com digital project on civilian Syrian diaries - second project in conjunction with BBG's Office of Digital and Design Innovation
- Increased Alhurra.com and RadioSawa.com traffic by 225% in less than a year reaching millions each month
- Increased engagement on Facebook by syndicating original content for more than 2.5 million Facebook fans; Facebook engagement metrics consistently surpassed Aljazeera and Alarabiya
MANAGING EDITOR, MIDDLE EAST, VOICE OF AMERICA (BBG)
January 2011 to July 2012
- Conceived and designed social journalism website (middleeastvoices.voanews.com) devoted to the Arab Spring
- Site re-launched with mobile first, responsive design in conjunction with BBG's Office of Digital and Design Innovation
- Site won its category in the 2012 Online Journalism Awards (ONA).
- Covered Egypt presidential runoff in Cairo using iPhone, Twitter, Instagram, DSLR Camera for #egyptdecides campaign, reached hundreds of thousands on Facebook and Twitter properties at MBN and VOA
- Designed and implemented social media strategy leveraging tools like iPhones, Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr, Ushahidi and Facebook to expand news coverage, crowdsource news
- Supervised a dozen reporters, stringer correspondents to produce web articles, essays, data journalism, participatory journalism
- Produced more than 50 hours of radio as anchor, producer of Middle East Monitor
Digital Media Strategist / Producer / Consultant / Founder
NomadsLand LLC
Public Company; 1-10 employees; Media Production industry
July 2002 – May 2013 (10 years 11 months) Washington, D.C.; Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, UAE
CAIRO, EGYPT; DUBAI, UAE; WASHINGTON D.C.
- 2012 - Released Astrofly - Trials in February 2012 - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/trials/id502627501
-- 2009 - Re-launched NOMADSLAND LLC in Washington D.C. - a video production and media consultancy
-- Clients: The Aspen Institute, Internews, DAI, U.S. State Dept., Knight Commission, Indego Africa, The Conservation Fund, Dragonfly Expeditions, Institute for Sustainable Communities, Smithsonian Institute, Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University
-- 2002 - 2010 - Founded NOMADSLAND FILMS - Directed the The Art of Flight, a documentary about Sudanese refugees in Egypt - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), AFI Fest Hollywood, Bangkok International Film Festival - Initially distributed by Seventh Art Releasing
-- 2005 - 2006 - Produced commercial advertising video projects: Dubai Holding, Dubai Industrial City, Dubai International Film Festival with budgets in excess of $100,000 Clients: Leo Burnett, Impact/BBDO, & McKinsey
-- 2005 - 2006 - Attended programming markets: MIPDOC (Cannes), Sunnyside of the Doc (Marseilles) and IDFA's Docs For Sale (Amsterdam)
- 2006 - Composed and released The Art of Flight - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack in June 2006 - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/art-flight-original-motion/id151822421
-- 2002 - 2007 - Produced print and video news features for IRIN News, BBC World, WGBH Radio's The World, Travel Today Egypt, Business Today Egypt, Egypt Today
Director, ITVS / PBS IndiesLab
Public Broadcasting Service
Nonprofit; 201-500 employees; Media Production industry
October 2009 – January 2011 (1 year 4 months) Pentagon City, Virginia
- Designed master promotional and windowing strategy to help ITVS and Independent Lens producers navigate the traditional public media model to the digital marketplace
- Maximize digital brand, promotion, and revenue opportunities for Independent Lens and independently produced documentaries on iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, SnagFilms, PBS Video
- Create competitive analysis reports on documentary marketplace, traditional and educational film distributors
- Maximize revenue and reach benefits of the IndiesLab film producers across platforms
- Recommend how cross-platform online video delivery should intersect social media, Twitter, Facebook, emerging apps and hardware
Guest Lecturer (International Information Programs)
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; International Affairs industry
July 2009 – July 2009 (1 month)
- Designed seminar and conducted working groups for print journalists, bloggers, university students and television producers in Syria and Jordan on new media trends, especially open source software, social networking and mobile Internet
- Worked with the U.S. Embassies in Amman and Damascus to deliver 2 to 3 presentations per day to dozens of Arab media professionals
Adjunct Professor, Film and Broadcast Production
American University
Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry
May 2009 – July 2009 (3 months)
- Teaching graduate level students in the Department of Communication in video journalism, production and new media
- Helped spearhead interactive website about guns and gun culture in America
Managing Producer
American News Project (ANP) - Partnership with The Huffington Post
Public Company; 201-500 employees; Online Media industry
January 2008 – March 2009 (1 year 3 months)
- Managed video reporters and produced investigative video reports
- Hutchins' reports aired on Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Democracy Now, CNN, Al Jazeera English
- Spearheaded development on core website functionality utilizing open-source Drupal, Brightcove, YouTube, Democracy In Action CRM software; managed Drupal developers
- Built database of more than 600 professional freelancers worldwide
- Produced reports from conception to original HD videography to scripting to editing on Final Cut Pro
- Covered 2008 Presidential election attending several Obama, McCain and Palin political rallies
- Video reports tallied more than 2 million views
- Project funded by Schumann Center For Media and Democracy (Bill Moyers, President) and the Tides Center
New Media Consultant / Broadcast Journalism Trainer
Internews
Nonprofit; 501-1000 employees; Nonprofit Organization Management industry
August 2007 – January 2008 (6 months)
-- Trained Palestinian broadcast journalists in photography, non-linear editing skills, writing skills, programming development, workflow and video publishing on the Internet
-- Completed four intensive tours training stations in Ramallah, Nablus, Jericho, Hebron and Bethlehem to coordinate for common programming initiatives; three in 2007-8 & one in 2009
-- Taught multiple stations to use peer-to-peer technology to transmit TV quality video across the West Bank to avoid checkpoint delays
-- Co-designed website in open-source Joomla to showcase Internews work and Palestinian programming to the world
-- Consulted on "Forgotten Chords" - Palestinian documentary that opened the Al Jazeera Television Festival
Director and Producer, The Art of Flight
NomadsLand LLC
Public Company; 1-10 employees; Media Production industry
June 2003 – February 2006 (2 years 9 months) Cairo, Egypt
- Directed feature-length documentary about Sudanese refugees in Egypt
- Co-wrote and produced original score - Available on iTunes and Amazon
- Film was accepted by International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), AFI Fest Hollywood, Bangkok International Film Festival
- Initially distributed by Seventh Art Releasing
Segment Producer / Field Producer / Writer
Tech TV
Public Company; 1-10 employees; Media Production industry
March 2000 – April 2002 (2 years 2 months)
-- Produced news pieces for TechTV, a basic cable network (50 million households) devoted to technology news (owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at the time)
-- Part of Tech Live launch – 8 daily hours of news; coordinated with Washington, New York and Seattle bureaus
-- Produced reports on dot-com collapse, tech industry layoffs, venture capital, online business models, Sept. 11, entertainment technology
-- Filed video reports for both 24-hour cable network and website
Segment Producer / Field Producer / Writer / Associate Producer
CNN
Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; TWX; Broadcast Media industry
October 1994 – December 1999 (5 years 3 months) Greater Atlanta Area
CABLE NEWS NETWORK - CNN
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
1996-1999
CNN INTERNATIONAL / HEADLINE NEWS, WRITER / PACKAGE PRODUCER
- Wrote stories/packaged reports for half-hour newscasts at Headline News - 1999
-Coordinated with producers in Berlin, London, Hong Kong and Atlanta for new regionalized morning and primetime newscasts and interviews for CNN International – 1997 - 1999
1997-1998
CNN NEWSROOM, FIELD PRODUCER / REPORTER
-Reported and field produced feature stories from Kuwait, Iceland, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, North Carolina, Florida, Montana, Utah and Colorado for CNN Newsroom - 1997 - 1998
-Wrote and edited packages on: international travelogues, digital technology, independent filmmaking, human rights
1994-1996
CNN USA, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
- Supported executive producer, line producer for newscasts; began career as script ripper and satellite feeds coordinator
- Produced a freelance Hi-8 video news series from Kuwait
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Languages
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Arabic
(Professional working proficiency) -
English
(Native or bilingual proficiency)
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Skills & Expertise
- iMovie
- Journalism
- Documentaries
- Documentary
- New Media
- Blogging
- Digital Media
- Video Editing
- Final Cut Pro
- Content Management
- Social Networking
- Television Production
- Wordpress
- Copy Editing
- Video Production
- Broadcast
- Videography
- Web Content
- Public Speaking
- Radio
- Content Development
- CMS
- Editorial Product Development
- Editing
- Multimedia
- Video
- Social Media
- HTML
- CSS
- Website Development
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Education
The American University in Cairo
Masters, Middle East Studies
2002 – 2004
Graduate Coursework: Islam In International Politics, Human Rights In The Middle East, Middle Eastern Politics, Economic Development In The Middle East, Independent Study in Documentary Filmmaking, Comparative Religion
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL/WORK EXPERIENCE: Egypt, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Iceland, France, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy as well as locations throughout the United States
LANGUAGES:
English (Fluent), Modern Standard Arabic (Advanced), Egyptian Arabic (Spoken)
California State University-Fresno
Bachelor, Journalism - History (Double Major)
1990 – 1994
Activities and Societies: Undergraduate Coursework - Modern Middle East History, Modern European History, Modern Germany, Modern Russia, World Wars I & II, Comparative Religion, History of Journalism, Television and Newspaper Production Other Activities: Writer / Executive Editor of Insight University Paper; Joe Alex Morris Journalism Internship in Kuwait (National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations); Dow Jones Copy Editing Internship at the Modesto Bee; Dateline NBC / Now with Tom Brokaw Internship in Washington D.C.
Davin "Hutch" Hutchins' Additional Information
- Websites:
- Interests:
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Rock, jazz, blues piano, digital music composition, digital photography and videography
- Groups and Associations:
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- Honors and Awards:
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Recipient of Online News Association (ONA) award for Arab Spring blog Middle East Voices - 2012
Two Superior Accomplishment Awards at VOA - 2012
Official Selection - AFI Fest (Los Angeles) - 2005
Official Selection - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) - 2005
Official Selection - Bangkok International Film Festival - 2006
National Council on U.S. Arab Relations Fellow in Kuwait - 1996
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