Shyam Bhatia (born 1950) is an Indian-born British journalist, writer and war reporter based in London.[1][2] He has reported from conflict zones such as the Middle East, Afghanistan and Sudan, and is a former diplomatic editor of The Observer.[3] He has also served as US correspondent and Foreign Editor of the Bangalore-based Deccan Herald and Editor of Asian Affairs magazine in London.[4]
Bhatia was educated at The Doon School in India and Leighton Park School in England before going to the University of Oxford.[5][6] A contributor to The Times, Mail on Sunday, Politico, Deccan Herald and The Citizen, he is also a columnist for the Indian Express.[7] He has published several books based on his war reporting, and a political biography of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto (who was his contemporary at Oxford).[8][9] In 1993, he won the Foreign Reporter of the Year for his coverage of the suffering of the Marsh Arabs in Southern Iraq.[10] His May 2021 keynote interview about the spread of Covid with Dr Jerome Kim of the International Vaccine Institute was published by The Wire and broadcast on Youtube.