The Vulture Club: international newsgathering via Facebook

Facebook is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2014. Like its social media cousin, Twitter, Facebook has transformed how journalists gather and disseminate international news. On Facebook, freelance journalists work together in open and closed communities to share information about news production in the latest crisis news datelines. One such community is the Vulture Club. This 'secret' site is being used to garner resources that previously were available only to mainstream staff correspondents. The majority of the posts on this site seek advice on good fixers, visas, safety gear, hotels and contacts. This article uses content analysis to examine posts on the VC site. It concentrates in particular on requests by freelance journalists for help with finding fixers in different countries. The study compares this model to a previous research study on staff correspondents and fixers. The findings are theorised by employing the work of Pierre Bourdieu on the acquisition of social and cultural capital.