John Stefans served as editor of the Riverhead News-Review for four years. Prior to that, he was editor of the Traveler-Watchman, based in Southold. His career in journalism began in 1964 as associate editor of the South Bergen News of  New Jersey. The next year, he was was hired as a suburban reporter for the New York Daily News. 

He continued in journalism in the U.S. Army, serving as editor of the I Corps Bullseye based in Oijongbu, Korea, a few miles from the DMZ. In 1968, he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal for his work on the Bullseye, then the largest military newspaper in Korea.

Following the Army, John joined the Chase Manhattan Bank as a speechwriter, rising to the position of senior vice president and director of corporate communications, a job he held for 10 years before taking early retirement in 1999 and moving to Riverhead.