Ian Stephens (editor)

Ian Melville Stephens CIE (1903 – 28 March 1984)[1] was a British journalist who was the editor of the Indian newspaper The Statesman (then British-owned) in Kolkata, West Bengal, from 1942 to 1951.

[2] He became known for his independent reporting during British rule in India, and in particular for his decision to publish graphic photographs, in August 1943, of the Bengal famine of 1943, which claimed between 1.5 and 3 million lives.

The publication of the images, along with Stephens' editorials, helped to bring the famine to an end by persuading the British government to supply adequate relief to the victims.

[12] For months Stephens and The Statesman went along with this, writes Cormac Ó Gráda, "toe[ing] the official line, berating local traders and producers, and praising ministerial efforts".

Their publication was widely regarded as "a singular act of journalistic courage and conscientiousness," according to the historian Janam Mukherjee, "without which many more lives would have surely been lost".

[11] He spent time in Kashmir and Pakistan, then returned to England and a six-year fellowship at King's College, Cambridge, which he used to write Horned Moon (1953) about his travels.