This article focuses on the impact of journalism education on the careers of news workers in Argentina and Brazil. Through interviews with 40 journalists from both countries, this study addresses this issue by exploring and comparing how different educational backgrounds shape the trajectories of these journalists during their professional transition. The results show that respondents from both countries share a critical view of the ability of higher education programmes to meet the needs of the media industry. However, they disagree on the role and relevance of their educational background. While, Argentine journalists value the practical skills they learned, especially those who studied in technical schools most Brazilian respondents emphasized the critical thinking acquired during their time at university and their internship experiences. Data suggest that the Brazilian training system has favoured the emergence of a clear career pattern: newcomers should first attend a journalism programme, then do one or more internships in order to be hired. Such a pattern is an important mechanism of predictability in journalism careers. In Argentina, the multiplicity of paths and the informal methods used by newsrooms to hire journalists seem to reflect the more precarious situation of the media industry. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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