On April 18, 2022, Web News Observer, a Mysore-based new-age digital media outlet distributed free books and stationery among the underprivileged students of Gayatri Higher Primary School, in Mysore’s Gayatripuram.

The move was with an aim to promote education, and provide some source of support to the underprivileged children. About 40 students received free books and notebooks as part of the effort undertaken by the media outlet.

Last week, they also hosted a virtual workshop where students were given free training on journalism. The workshop focused on the future of journalism and the opportunities the field offers. Students were taught the importance of responsible journalism and how ethical journalism is the key today.

“Our motive behind running the workshop was to encourage students to pursue journalism, since it is one of the most important pillars of the society. We feel students are still hesitant to pursue journalism as a career, and we want to bring awareness regarding the same,” says Ehraz Ahmed, founder of Web News Observer.

Web News Observer was established in 2019, when India was reeling under a surge in cyber attacks, and even top-notch companies were falling prey to data breaches. The media outlet solely aims at covering technology-related stories, creating awareness about cyber security, and curbing the increase in incidences of data breach.

Following the launch of the media outlet, the Covid-19 pandemic kicked in, and cyberattacks became more frequent and dangerous. While the pandemic disrupted industries worldwide, Web News Observer strived in reporting online fraud cases and scams, which were on the rise.

“The pandemic-induced lockdown was a tough phase for us, and we tried our best to keep the organisation on track. We realised that it was time for us to venture into other beats as well, since the lockdown blues were taking a toll on people’s health and everyone wanted some source of entertainment. That is when we started covering other beats including Entertainment, Lifestyle, Korean and others to help people get their daily dose of soft news,” says Ahmed.

Late last year, Web News Observer busted multiple online scams where the scammers impersonated as Elon Musk, and lured people into a Bitcoin giveaway scam. The story was then covered by several other media outlets, and the verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk were taken down.