Episode 56

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Published on:

20th Feb 2022

English Language Media in Ukraine

With so much hysteria and propaganda going around the world about Ukraine it’s important to find journalists on the ground that we can trust. Whether it’s Kremlin backed mouthpieces like Russia Today or anything coming out of the US State Department it’s clear the concerns of the innocent majority are not being addressed. It is especially hard to find independent Ukrainian voices working in English, and their ability to translate between three languages is invaluable to interested folks in the West.

Today on Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr welcomes Ukrainian journalists Toma Istomina and Romeo Kokriatski. Istomina is the deputy chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, a new journalism venture that was formed by the team from the Kyiv Post after they were summarily fired for resisting oversight by an oligarch. Kokriatski is the managing editor of the New Voice of Ukraine and host of the podcast Ukraine Without Hype.

Please support their work by checking out the links mentioned in the episode at our website blackdiplomats.net.

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About the Podcast

Black Diplomats
The world is full of black people, but when the mainstream media talks about the world, we hardly ever hear from them. Black Diplomats—a podcast dedicated to international politics and culture from the perspective of people of color—is going to...
Founded in 2020 and led by Terrell Jermaine Starr, Black Diplomats is the go-to podcast for those who want relatable content on global affairs that doesn’t center the perspectives of white male experts.

Few foreign policy shows are led by Black people or center the opinions, experiences and expertise of people of color. Black Diplomats is one exception. Guests are mostly people of color and people who are indigenous to the regions the episodes focus on.
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Terrell Starr

Terrell Jermaine Starr is the senior reporter at The Root, where he writes about the 2020 election and foreign policy, mostly U.S. relations with Ukraine and Russia. He is also the The Root’s 2020 correspondent and is tasked with interviewing presidential candidates and traveling to communities around the country to see who voters are eyeing to cast ballots for during the 2020 primary and the general election.

Some of the people Starr have conducted sit-down interviews with include U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, among other politicians.

Before working at The Root, Starr was at Foxtrot Alpha, a blog that focuses on military, technology and policy. Prior to that, he worked for FUSION as a national political correspondent covering the 2016 presidential campaign. He lived Ukraine as a Fulbright fellow, and Georgia as a Peace Corps volunteer. Starr has over four years of experience living in the former Soviet Union and more than eight years working as a reporter. Starr uses his media skills to break down Russia-U.S. relations in ways that make him not sound like a Washington hack. He is a frequent guest and co-host of the popular podcast In The Thick and his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones and Buzzfeed.

Starr is a regularly sought after speaker on U.S.-Russian relations, Ukrainian politics and the intersection of race and politics in America.