Stefan Aust (born 1 July 1946 in Stade, Lower Saxony) is a German journalist and publisher of the conservative leaning Die Welt newspaper. Until December 2016, he was also the paper's editor. He was the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel from 1994 to February 2008.
Two of Aust's books have been made into films: Der Pirat 1997 by Bernd Schadewald [de] and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex 2008 by Uli Edel.
In 2010 Aust was awarded the Mercator Visiting Professorship for Political Management at the Universität Essen-Duisburg's NRW School of Governance. He gave both seminars and lectures at the university.