For nearly four decades, Julie Mason has made a career out of asking the questions others won’t — and getting the answers politicians would rather keep to themselves. The host of SiriusXM‘s The Julie Mason Show has become one of Washington’s most trusted voices.
Not by taking sides, but by refusing to.
Mason’s path to radio wasn’t a straight line — it was a calculated leap. After 25 years in print, she walked away from the page and into a studio, trading bylines for a microphone and building something she never had in newspapers: a direct, intimate relationship with her audience.
What she found on the other side surprised even her. The listeners who might have once scrolled past her stories without a second thought now treat her like a friend. For Mason, that’s not just a perk of the job — it’s the whole point.
“Sometimes in life, you’re presented with a challenge that is terrifying, but also really stimulating and exciting, and that’s what this opportunity was for me,” SiriusXM host Julie Mason told Barrett Media about her transition from print to radio in 2011.
“I was so delighted for a chance to take what I learned in print and apply it to radio. It was a really exciting mid-career change for me. I recommend it to anyone,” she advised.
For 15 years, she’s been in your ear, but Mason credits her incredible career path to one particular voice: “My whole life, my mom kind of had it in my ear, ‘Journalism would be kind of a great career, you’d probably be good at it,'” Mason recalled. “I’m certainly not one of those people who was pushed into medicine because their parents wanted them to. [My mom] just had a great idea for a career, and it turned out to be a great one for me [and] I’m really grateful for that.”
Breaking Into Washington
In 2001, she took Washington by storm — first with the Houston Chronicle, followed by the Washington Examiner and Politico. After 25 years in print, Mason had two options: “either go into management or become a columnist,” Mason laughed. “Neither of those paths were very appealing to me.”
Determined to keep her beat, Mason forged her own path. “I’d done some help for SiriusXM when I was on the board of the White House Correspondents Association, and Joe Matthew, who had had the job before me, urged me to apply [as] he was leaving.”
“[Matthew] was like, ‘they’ll teach you radio, they just want what’s in your head, just go talk to them.’ So I thought about it for a while and I thought, oh my God, this is so scary.”
It didn’t take long for Mason to decide. “I really want to do it. I thought it would be a wonderful challenge and a great new chapter in my career, and I would learn a new skill.”
You can teach almost anyone to operate a radio board, but it takes someone special to develop new sources every four to eight years when Washington turns over. “Every new president picks up and develops the bad habits of their predecessor. So it tends to get progressively worse in some ways.”
Getting Politicians to Ditch the Script
That dynamic is precisely why Mason’s non-partisan, pure journalistic tone has gotten her questions answered from both sides of the political aisle. “[Often] politicians are so fearful of making a mistake that they go into robot mode really quickly and easily, and they just want to sit on their talking points,” Mason said. “The constant challenge for my show is to get them comfortable and chatting in a friendly way, not to draw them into a gasp or a mistake, but to make them comfortable so they’ll talk like a normal person. That’s what I think is a real strength of my show.”
No gotchas, no sandbags — just real, honest journalistic questioning. “I’ll notice the first time a politician comes on my show, they’ll be very guarded,” she said. “They’ll be very careful, and they’ll be almost very stern. Then by the third, the fourth time, they’re making jokes, so it works. It’s a formula that works over time.”
Mason believes “robot mode” has become the default for so many politicians because “social media kind of ruined it. Things that were kept private were kept private before social media. Now everything is out in the open. Everything is fair game. Everything is content.”
Historically, she said, “There used to be a bit more of a gentleman’s agreement between the press and staff and politicians — like what we’re going to cover and what we’re going to talk about.” Today, influencers and social media are monetizing information, meaning “everything’s fair game. So there’s a lot less trust — and maybe that’s not a terrible thing.” Mason noted there is a trade-off, though: “There’s much more garbage content.”
She enjoys talking to the left and right sides of the political aisle because, quite simply, “You can find something of value in almost everyone you speak to. And I think that really helps make people comfortable and sort of gets the partisanship out of the way.”
The Journalists-as-Advocates Problem
It’s a feeling Mason believes is being lost on many Americans. “Everyone is so hunkered down in their partisan corners. [The] other side must be defeated, killed, decimated — and they expect [journalists] to do that work.”
Mason, an American University graduate, sees this across all generations. “When I talk to younger groups like college students [and] intern classes, one of the questions I get a lot is: ‘How do you use your journalism to further your values? Or to further feminism? Or to push your political agenda?’ And I just say, I don’t. That’s not what journalism is for.”
She noted, “I see them behind their eyes shut down because they don’t want to hear that. Because they got into it to push their agenda. And I think, ‘Man, you’re in for a really rude awakening.'”
It’s not just a Generation Alpha problem. “It goes all the way up to boomers who just expect you to crush their enemies as a journalist.”
Mason has no enemies to crush — just facts to find. It’s a sentiment evident through her nearly 40 years of work. Since making the change from print to radio, she’s noticed a difference in the way she connects with her audience.
“[Radio is] a lot kinder,” she acknowledged. “When I was in print, we would always say, ‘Never read the comments on your story, never answer your phone if you don’t know who’s calling — just keep the audience at arm’s length.’ They hate us.”
She added, “Radio is much more interactive with the audience. It’s much more supportive and friendlier, and the relationship has a lot more intimacy. You’re literally in people’s ears for as much time as they want during the day. And they feel like they have a friend. So the attacks are not as much.”
Mason’s advice for success in print or radio is simple: “Have a really diverse skillset. Be able to take pictures, shoot video, write clearly and legibly, be good on television, and be good on the radio. Every chance you have to add a new skill to your set is something you should seize upon.”
She added, “Even if it’s scary, even if it’s intimidating, or even if you blow at it and you aren’t any good, do it. Just have as many skills as possible in your toolkit. And that’s going to help you get a job and stay employed.”
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Krystina Alarcon Carroll contributes features and columns for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
