Background

Ethnicity: One of Paul's grandparent was a Lithuanian-Jewish violinist.

Paul Mason was born on January 23, 1960, in Leigh, Lancashire, United Kingdom. His father, John Mason was a lorry driver for Ward & Goldstone Ltd. His mother, Julia was headmistress of St Margaret Mary's Primary School, Hindley Green.

Education

Paul graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in music and politics in 1981. He then was trained to be a music teacher at London University Institute of Education, after which he undertook postgraduate research into the music of the Second Viennese School at the University of Sheffield until 1984.

Career

Paul Mason lived in Leicester from 1982 to 1988, working as a music teacher and lecturer in music at Loughborough University. From 1995 to 2001 he worked for Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, on titles including Contract Journal, Community Care and Computer Weekly, of which he was deputy editor. He also contributed articles to the Daily Express and The Mail on Sunday. Mason joined BBC Newsnight in 2001 as business editor. In 2013 he switched to Channel 4 News as its culture and digital editor. He became the programme's economics editor in 2014. During fifteen years as a public service broadcaster, he covered stories as varied as Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Occupy and the Arab Spring. Plus the Greek crisis, the Taksim Square revolt, and the 2014 Gaza war. Mason announced in February 2016 that he was leaving his position at Channel 4 News in favor of freelancing so he could engage more fully in debates on the political left without the constraint of impartiality observed by broadcasters in the United Kingdom.

Mason has written five non-fiction books and one novel. Three of his plays has been performed, including Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere, commissioned by BBC TWO at the Young Vic. His most recent book, Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being, was published in April 2019.

Paul produced the documentary series #ThisIsACoup for Field of Vision, with Theopi Skarlatos. He directed the short movie Astoria for the Young Vic. His radio work includes the two-part documentary series Wagner: Power, Sex and Revolution.

Achievements

• Paul Mason is an award-winning writer and broadcaster on economics and social justice. He won the RTS Specialist Reporter Award in 2012 and was the inaugural winner of the Ellen Meiksins Wood prize in 2018.

Works

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  • The Big Countdown: 34.7 Quadrillion Minutes Since the Last Dinosaurs Died

    (Do you know for how many years the dinosaurs ruled the Ea...)

    2018
  • Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future

    (We know that our world is undergoing seismic change - but...)

    2016
  • Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global

    (The stories in this book come to life through the voices ...)

    2010
  • Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed

    (Meltdown is the gripping account of the financial collaps...)

    2010
  • World's Weirdest Sharks

    (Chances are, when you think of sharks, it's the great whi...)

    2018
  • Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions

    (The world is facing a wave of uprisings, protests and rev...)

    2012
  • Rare Earth

    (A washed up TV reporter stumbles onto a corruption scanda...)

    2012
  • The Shark Attack Files

    (A dark, triangular fin slicing through the water can be a...)

    2018
  • Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being 2019

Politics

Mason distanced himself from his former involvement in far-left Trotskyist politics in 2016, by saying that he no longer holds such views and identifies with a "radical social democracy," and supported Liberal Party. He also characterized himself as an antifascist and humanist.

Connections

Paul is married to nurse Jane Bruton.

Father:

John Mason

Mother:

Julia Mason

Spouse:

Jane Bruton Mason

References

• Paul Mason