Becoming a Journalist: The Career of Young Reporters and Interns in Two Newsrooms in Argentina

Abstract

This paper analyzes the beginning of the journalistic career of the youngest members of Página/12 and Tiempo Argentino newspapers from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The ethnographic research took place in the newsrooms between 2011 and 2015 to study the socialization process of young reporters and interns in media press. With this goal in mind, it explores how they learn the values and practical rules of the journalistic world, starting with the interactions they engage on with other members of that environment, such as their colleagues and editors, as well as how they deal with the sources. The research was structured in five dimensions of analysis that contributed to explain the socialization process: 1) The channels and strategies to enter the journalistic field, 2) the newcomers' rites de passage, 3) the forms of socialization within the newsrooms, 4) the identification processes, and 5) the strategies that these young people implement in the medium term to stay in the journalistic world.