During the Community Media in the Digital Age conference, journalist Daoud Kuttab announced his retirement. The announcement was simple, yet it resonated deeply with me. Perhaps because my name had been linked to his for many years.

A connection that sometimes brought challenges-two journalists working at a high professional standard, navigating a long path of effort and experience, with moments that shaped me as a person before they shaped me as a journalist. I have always said: Daoud is not just a manager... he is a teacher, a mentor, and a spiritual father.

Today, I write about Daoud-something I've long wanted to do-but I felt that the right moment would be alongside his retirement announcement, so that my words wouldn't seem biased or merely flattering while he was still at the helm.

My first real step in my career came in 2004 when I was working at a small hummus restaurant. I noticed a classified ad in the newspaper: journalists wanted for an online radio station called Amman Net. At a time when FM radio barely existed and the internet was still in its infancy, the idea of an online radio seemed nearly impossible. Yet, I sensed an opportunity to work in my chosen field.

I had graduated from Yarmouk University in 2002, frustrated by the lack of journalism opportunities. I went to the interview expecting to meet a typical institution director, but I was met with someone entirely different. Daoud didn't ask about my years of experience; he asked about my curiosity, the stories I saw daily in the streets, the people who go unnoticed. From the first moment, I felt he was opening a door to a world I didn't even know existed.

I came from a closed environment, the Al-Hosn refugee camp in Irbid, where inherited ideas and social norms were strictly defined, and caution toward the“other” was part of daily life. Everything was measured by traditional customs and constraints, and openness to difference was often met with suspicion. Working at Amman Net was a completely different experience. There, I found myself in an environment that embraced diversity, encouraged critique, and valued differences-where a person was judged not by their background but by their vision, curiosity, and professional commitment.

My years at Amman Net reshaped my thinking. I learned that societal ideas are not fixed templates dictated by gender, place, or heritage, and that openness to others is not a luxury but a necessity to understand the world and to live in a society capable of renewal and change.

Amman Net was more than an institution; it was a home. We were not employees but a true family. The atmosphere of trust, solidarity, and space that welcomed both creativity and mistakes created a rare environment. Daoud fostered this with his humane approach, his fatherly closeness, and his ability to make each of us feel important and responsible.

The most important lesson I learned from Daoud was to decentralize decision-making. He was never the manager who held all the strings. He delegated authority, left space for creativity, and treated every journalist as a partner in decision-making. He clearly distinguished management from editorial work and always emphasized that journalism loses its value when it loses its independence.

Daoud was also distinguished by his genuine belief in equality and women's empowerment. These were not slogans to be recited at conferences but daily practices at Amman Net and Radio Al-Balad. Equality in tasks, promotions, and opportunities was a fixed principle. For me, coming from a socially closed environment, this experience transformed my worldview and opened a perspective of greater openness and acceptance of others.

He also believed that media is the responsibility of the new generation. He opened Amman Net to students and graduates, giving them real opportunities not just as interns but as potential partners in building responsible media. He believed in citizen journalism, teaching that a photograph or news story carries an ethical responsibility before it is a technical skill, and that professional integrity is not optional-it is a duty.

The greatest value Daoud instilled in us was trust: trust in the public, trust in ourselves, and trust in the profession itself. We knew that any conflict of interest or lapse in performance could undermine this trust, and maintaining it was more important than any temptation or pressure. The public could verify the credibility of a story simply by checking whether Amman Net had published it.

Today, with his administrative retirement, I know that a true journalist never retires. One may leave the office, but never the mission. Daoud's legacy will remain alive in every corner of Amman Net and Radio Al-Balad, and in every new generation nurtured on his values, independence, and ethics.

His experience and heritage are long. Daoud Kuttab was born in Bethlehem in 1955 and raised in Jerusalem. He earned a Bachelor's in Business Administration from Messiah College. He founded and led the Modern Media Institute at Al-Quds University, launched Al-Quds Educational TV, established the first Arab internet radio in 1999, created the AMIN network for Arab media, and founded the Al-Quds Film Institute. He wrote for Al-Quds daily, interviewed international leaders, and worked as an editor and correspondent in Palestinian and Jordanian media institutions.

Daoud Kuttab's legacy is not in the positions he held or the institutions he founded, but in an entire generation of journalists raised on freedom, responsibility, and the belief that journalism is a public service before it is a profession. A warrior's pause like this is not an end, but a new station in the journey of a man who made words, truth, and professional values an unbreakable shield.

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