Julie Mason (born around 1966) is a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and the host of "Julie Mason Mornings" and past host of "The Press Pool" on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sa ...

radio's POTUS channel.Peter Ogburn, "Behind the Scenes With the Bawdy Julie Mason," ''FishbowlDC,'' April 26, 2012
/ref>

Professional life

Mason was a

White House correspondent The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

for the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', ''

Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is o ...

'' and

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

during the

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

administration and the first term of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

'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 A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

in 2008 while serving as the paper's White House correspondent. She worked at the ''

'' as a White House reporter until 2010, when she joined Politico's White House team. She joined SiriusXM in 2011.Michelle Lancaster, "Meet Julie Mason, White House Correspondent, Neighbor," ''Borderstan,'' January 12, 2011
/ref> 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
/ref> She has been the secretary and a board member of the

White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

. She has been noted for her impressions of notable figures such as Laura Bush, Michelle Obama,

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

and John Boehner.T.J. Clemente, "Julie Mason Shining Brightly by the Press Pool," ''East Hampton Patch,'' March 5, 2016
/ref> 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 The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...

." In 2011, White House press secretary

Jay Carney James Ferguson 'Jay' Carney (born May 22, 1965) is an American public relations officer, political advisor and journalist who has served as Amazon's Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs from 2015 to 2022, and the United States Whit ...

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 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

, a "visual suggestion that she was whining," according to ''Washington Post'' columnist Paul Farhi.

Personal life

Mason grew up in

Acton, Massachusetts Acton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, approximately west-northwest of Boston along Massachusetts Route 2 west of Concord and about southwest of Lowell. The population was 24,021 in April 2020, according to the Unit ...

, graduated from

Lawrence Academy at Groton Lawrence Academy at Groton is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, in the United States. Founded in 1792 by a group of fifty residents of Groton and Pepperell, Massachusett ...

, Massachusetts, and attended American University in Washington, D.C. In May, 1996, she married David Messina of Houston in the Graceland Chapel in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, where a Presley impersonator walked her down the aisle and serenaded her afterward. In 2011, she lived in Washington, in the Dupont-Logan-U Street- Columbia Heights area. Mason and Alper Tunga Yakupoglu were married in October 2019 in the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. Mason is a reader of

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

cards."Birthday of the Day: Julie Mason, host of SiriusXM's 'Press Pool," ''Politico,'' December 11, 2018
/ref>

Quotations

* Tara Parker-Pope recalled that when she and Mason were reporters on the ''

'', 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." * Laura Bush was the "iron rod" at

'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
/ref>

References

External links

*
Mason prepares for a White House Correspondents Association dinner
(video)
"Jared Rizzi on President Obama and Julie's Ex-Husband," ''SiriusXM News and Issues,'' 2015
(video)
"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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Julie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Acton, Massachusetts American political journalists American women journalists People from Washington, D.C. 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American journalists American University alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women