diff --git a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/report_utils.py b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/report_utils.py
index 002f49960ab78..502efc31f4fef 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/report_utils.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/report_utils.py
@@ -71,13 +71,12 @@ def render_junit_xml_report(resultset, xml_report, suite_package='grpc',
       xml_test = ET.SubElement(testsuite, 'testcase', name=shortname)
       if result.elapsed_time:
         xml_test.set('time', str(result.elapsed_time))
-      ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'system-out').text = _filter_msg(result.message,
-                                                               'XML')
+      filtered_msg =  _filter_msg(result.message, 'XML')
       if result.state == 'FAILED':
-        ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'failure', message='Failure')
+        ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'failure', message='Failure').text = filtered_msg
         failure_count += 1
       elif result.state == 'TIMEOUT':
-        ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'error', message='Timeout')
+        ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'error', message='Timeout').text = filtered_msg
         error_count += 1
       elif result.state == 'SKIPPED':
         ET.SubElement(xml_test, 'skipped', message='Skipped')