ABSTRACT Objectives: to analyze nurses’ professional militancy in the institutionality field, presented by the printed media from Bahia State in the 1970s and 1980s. Methods: a historical and qualitative research under Social History’s perspective, whose data source was the newspaper A Tarde. The temporal cut-off encompasses milestones such as professional body restructuring and creation. Results: the Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem democratization movement was reported in a superficial way, highlighting the struggle for power spaces. With respect to Conselhos Federal e Regional de Enfermagem daBahia, the newspaper notified creation and function of bodies, however, there was no visibility to the newspaper’s performance. Concerning the union, there was political fragility of nurses against the creation and union participation in the fight for labor rights. Final Considerations: organization of political action occurred from isolated groups mobilization of professionals who were already traveling in political spaces, not the large mass of professionals.