Chris Mason (journalist)

Mason was born in Airedale Hospital in Steeton with Eastburn, West Yorkshire.[3] He grew up in Grassington, North Yorkshire,[3] and attended Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton.[3][4] He listened to radio, in particular BBC Radio Lancashire, from an early age and his childhood ambition was to present his own programme.[5] He attended Christ's College, Cambridge, where he studied Geography, before gaining a postgraduate diploma from City, University of London.[3][6]

Mason started his career as a trainee in broadcast journalism at ITN in 2001.[1][3] After a year, he relocated to BBC Newcastle, where he befriended future broadcaster Rob Young,[5] and then to the BBC regional desk at Westminster.[1][3] His first report from Westminster was in 2004.[5] For two years, Mason reported for BBC News as a Europe correspondent,[1][3] followed by a short stint as a political reporter on BBC Radio 5 Live.[3] He then became a political correspondent for BBC News in 2012.[1][3]

On 20 February 2016, Mason broadcast from outside 10 Downing Street as he unsuccessfully attempted to engage ministers arriving for the cabinet meeting called to discuss David Cameron's renegotiation of the UK's European Union membership.[7]

In June 2017, he started presenting the podcast Brexitcast with Adam Fleming and was later joined by Laura Kuenssberg and Katya Adler.[1][3] From 12 September 2019 to 30 January 2020, Brexitcast was also broadcast on BBC One television.[8] Brexitcast was renamed Newscast after the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020. The first edition of Newscast aired on 6 February. It was again renamed The Coronavirus Newscast, also known as Coronacast, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2018 he presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary Could the PM Have a Brummie Accent?[9]

In August 2018 while discussing Theresa May dancing during a visit to Kenya, Mason simulated dancing, moving his shoulders and swaying from side to side.

In November 2018, live on BBC Breakfast, Mason asked "So where are we in all of this Brexit process? To be quite honest, looking at things right now, I haven't got the foggiest idea what is going to happen in the coming weeks. Is the Prime Minister going to get a deal with the EU? Dunno! Is she going to be able to get it through the Commons? Don't know about that, either. I think you might as well get Mr Blobby back on to offer his analysis, because, frankly, I suspect his is now as good as mine." Mason was praised for his honesty after his comments were shared on social media[1][10][11][12] and translated into French in newspaper Le Parisien.[7]

In December 2018 he unveiled a blue plaque honouring the Yorkshire-born journalist W. R. Mitchell (1928–2015).[1][13] A 2018 study of "the Twitter output of 10 seasoned UK political correspondents" found that Mason was a "prolific" tweeter,[14] and had 66,000 followers between month 1 September and 3 October 2018.[14] Mason tweeted about a "diverse and humorous range of interests beyond the political scene", including his native Yorkshire and goldfish named for other journalists.[14]

In March 2019 he presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary The Country vs the City.[4] The following month in April, Mason abandoned a news bulletin on The Andrew Marr Show due to technical difficulties.[15]

On 9 October 2019 Mason was appointed chair of the BBC Radio 4 debate programme Any Questions?[16][17] He said it was "daunting" to take over from Jonathan Dimbleby, who had been chair for 32 years. Mason suggested his Yorkshire accent helped him get the job and pointed at a lack of a broad range of regional accents more generally in British broadcasting.[18] His first show was broadcast from the University of Reading on 18 October with guests Siân Berry, Madeline Grant, David Lammy and Brandon Lewis.[19]

In October 2019, the website The Conservative Woman described Mason as "mildly irreverent, self-deprecating and congenial... as well as being an experienced and highly competent political broadcaster".[20]

Mason is an occasional host of BBC Breakfast.[1] Despite previous reports that he might join the new digital station Times Radio, he remains at the BBC.[21]

Mason is married. He and his wife have two children[22] and live in London. Mason took parental leave between July and September 2019.[23]

• Chris Mason at IMDb
• Chris Mason on Twitter