Julie Mason (born December 11, 1966) is an American journalist and the host of "The Julie Mason Show" on SiriusXM radio's POTUS channel. Previously, she hosted "Julie Mason Mornings" and "The Press Pool" on POTUS.Peter Ogburn, "Behind the Scenes With the Bawdy Julie Mason," FishbowlDC, April 26, 2012
Professional life
Mason was a White House correspondent for the Houston Chronicle, Washington Examiner and Politico during the George W. Bush administration and the first term of Barack Obama's administration. She was with the Chronicle for twenty years.
Mason's first job was as a clerk in the Washington bureau of the Dallas Morning News, and In 1988 she went to Texas to work as a reporter with the Houston Chronicle. She was transferred to the newspaper's Washington bureau in 2001 but was laid off in 2008 while serving as the paper's White House correspondent. She worked at the Washington Examiner as a White House reporter until 2010, when she joined Politico's White House team. She joined SiriusXM in 2011. In 2014, Mason received the Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in the Media for outstanding achievement as a radio talk show host.Judy Kurtz, "A Clash fan who wants to interview Obama over 'strong cocktails,' The Hill, June 12, 2014 She has been the secretary and a board member of the White House Correspondents' Association.
She has been noted for her impressions of notable figures such as Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren and John Boehner.T.J. Clemente, "Julie Mason Shining Brightly by the Press Pool," East Hampton Patch, March 5, 2016 Readers of FishbowlDC in 2012 voted Mason "class clown" of the Washington press corps.
One report said that Mason is known for her "bawdy personality and quick wit." Television commentator Bill O'Reilly in 2014 called her a "loon" because, according to him, she suggested that he and Glenn Beck may have damaged the Fox News "brand."
In 2011, White House press secretary Jay Carney called one of Mason's stories "partisan, inflammatory and tendentious," and U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor sent her an e-mail that included an animated picture of a crying mime, a "visual suggestion that she was whining," according to Washington Post columnist Paul Farhi.Paul Farhi, "Journalists Complain the White House Press Office Has Become Overly Combative," The Washington Post, December 22, 2011
Personal life
Mason grew up in Acton, Massachusetts, graduated from Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts, and attended American University in Washington, D.C."Julie Mason: A Clash Fan Who Wants to Interview Obama Over 'Strong Cocktails,'" The Hill, June 12, 2014
In May 1996, she married David Messina of Houston in the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada, where a Presley impersonator walked her down the aisle and serenaded her afterward."Well, It's One Way to Avoid the In-Laws," The Boston Globe, May 311, 1996, image 48Clark County, Nevada, Marriage Index, 1956-1966, Las Vegas, Nevada
In 2011, she lived in Washington, in the Dupont-Logan-U Street-Columbia Heights area.
Mason is a reader of Tarot cards."Birthday of the Day: Julie Mason, host of SiriusXM's 'Press Pool," Politico, December 11, 2018
Quotations
Tara Parker-Pope recalled that when she and Mason were reporters on the Houston Chronicle, the former stopped by Mason's desk to ask a question. Mason turned around "to show me I had her full attention" and said, "I've always got five minutes for a friend.""How to Be a Better Friend," The New York Times, undated Laura Bush was the "iron rod" at George W. Bush's back. "She keeps him from going too far off the deep end when he gets all caught up in his cock-of-the-walk behavior.""Reading the Leaves About Laura Bush," The Boston Globe, January 19, 2001, image 56
References
External links
Mason prepares for a White House Correspondents Association dinner (video)
"BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Julie Mason, host of SiriusXM's 'Press Pool'" "Julie Mason Is Getting Sirius," Borderstan, December 19, 2012 (transcript of interview) "Discussing inflation creating a pay cut for our troops: Ferrari on SiriusXM's 'Julie Mason Mornings,'American Enterprise Institute, November 18, 2021