Most people know Tony Berlin as the husband of Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, but his own career tells a compelling story. From elementary school teacher to award-winning TV journalist to successful PR executive, Berlin’s career in American media spans over three decades. He’s the founder and CEO of Berlin Media Relations.
Biography
Tony Berlin was born on December 9, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. His early years weren’t exactly conventional. When his parents divorced during his toddler years, Berlin moved with his mum and older sister to Tucson, Arizona, where they settled. His mother raised both children single-handedly, though Berlin has kept the family details close to the chest.
Growing up in Tucson during the 1980s shaped Berlin in unexpected ways. He became obsessed with two things: journalism and basketball. At Amphitheatre High School, he played basketball during the glory years when legendary coach Lute Olson was putting the University of Arizona on the national basketball map. Berlin was so inspired that he wrote Olson a letter as a high school freshman, basically asking to be recruited. In a 2016 interview, Berlin laughed about describing himself as “a slow 6’3” but a decent jump shot.” Olson sent back what Berlin called a “polite ‘no way kid!'” but the letter was gracious enough to keep.
Berlin returned to his birthplace for university, enrolling at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science while playing Division III basketball for the college team. Even at Occidental, he remained loyal to Arizona Wildcats basketball, attending their games whenever they came to Southern California. That dedication paid off emotionally in 1997 when the Wildcats won the national championship.
Instead of diving straight into journalism after graduation, he spent three years teaching sixth and third grade at Humphreys Elementary School in East Los Angeles from 1989 to 1992.
Berlin eventually pursued his media dreams by attending American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C., earning a Master’s degree in Journalism around 1992-1993. During this period, he reportedly interned at PBS News. He later completed a Poynter Institute reporting workshop in 2002.
Career
Berlin’s journalism career began in 1992, when Cox Broadcasting hired him as a Capitol Hill field producer in Washington. He covered national news for 12 Cox television stations, getting his feet wet in the fast-paced world of political reporting. From there, he moved through several markets: WJCL-TV (the ABC affiliate) in Savannah, Georgia, from 1993 to 1994, then WSLS-TV (NBC affiliate) in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1994 to 1995.
His career really gained momentum at WHIO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Dayton, Ohio. From June 1995 to June 1998, Berlin served as lead reporter for the 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm newscasts. He even produced and anchored a political programme called “Newsmaker Sunday” and filled in as anchor when needed. The timing was perfect. He was working at this CBS station when his beloved Arizona Wildcats won that 1997 national championship.
But Berlin’s longest and most significant journalism stint came at WCCO-TV, the CBS-owned-and-operated station in Minneapolis. He spent seven years there from 1998 to 2005 as lead reporter for the 6pm and 10pm newscasts, occasionally filling in as anchor. A former supervisor at WCCO wrote glowing praise: “Tony was responsible for researching and reporting on enterprise news stories. His superb work in on-the-scene, live reporting set our station apart. Tony excelled as a writer, but even more, as a thoughtful, compassionate journalist.”
It was during these Minneapolis years that Berlin would meet his future wife, though we’ll get to that story in a moment.
Berlin’s final journalism position was at WCBS-TV in New York City from 2005 to 2006, where he worked as a field producer rather than an on-air reporter.
In 2006, Berlin made the jump from journalism to public relations. He started as Media Relations Manager at Padilla Speer Beardsley from 2006 to 2008, managing media relations and national TV outreach for the firm’s New York office. He then became Director of Media Relations at Credit.com from 2008 to 2011.
January 2011 marked Berlin’s biggest entrepreneurial leap. He founded Berlin Media Relations, where he remains President and CEO today. The firm specialises in earned media placements across television, radio, print, and web platforms. His company secures client appearances on major outlets, including Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNBC, Fox News Channel, PBS NewsHour, and publications such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Notable clients have included LendingTree, Primerica, and Identity Theft 911. Berlin built a team comprising a vice president of media relations, executive media coaches, digital marketing strategists, and B2B content writers. His approach emphasises what he calls “old-fashioned earned media” and transparency. As he told Qwoted in 2024: “Reporters already don’t trust you; all you have is your reputation.”
Speaking of that recognition, Berlin was named a Qwoted 100 PR Superstar in May 2024, a significant industry honour. He continues writing articles for MarketWatch on financial topics and remains a member of SABEW (Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing).
Personal Life
Tony Berlin’s love story began as a professional rivalry. In 2001, both he and Harris Faulkner were local TV journalists in Minneapolis. She was an evening anchor at KSTP-TV (the ABC affiliate) whilst he was a reporter at competitor WCCO-TV. Berlin first spotted Faulkner in a promotional spot for her news segment and asked a mutual colleague, fellow journalist Julie Nelson, to introduce them.
Their first meeting? A complete disaster. They agreed to meet at Nelson’s birthday party, but Berlin showed up with a date. Faulkner later joked that she mentally “fired” him for the audacity and placed him firmly in the “friend zone” for approximately six months. “He shook my hand and introduced me to his date,” Faulkner told IN Kansas City magazine in 2024. “I thought, ‘OK, that takes some gall right there.'”
Dating officially began on May 10, 2001, a date Faulkner commemorates publicly. “I like to say that May 10, 2001, was the last first date I ever had,” she told the magazine. After just over a year of dating, Berlin proposed in August 2002 at Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota. As Faulkner recounted: “We were skipping rocks into Lake Superior and he threw something at me. He said, ‘Don’t toss that in!’ and got down on one knee. It was a velvet box with a ring inside.”
They married on April 12, 2003, in Rio Rico, Arizona, near Berlin’s hometown of Tucson. The location was chosen because most of their extended family lived in Arizona. The couple celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2023, with Berlin gifting Faulkner a custom Kansas City Chiefs jersey featuring the number 20 and her name on the back. A devoted Chiefs fan, Faulkner initially didn’t get the reference until Berlin explained: “Turn it over. You’re on my team.”
The Berlins have two daughters. Bella was born on December 9, 2006, sharing her father’s birthday. Danika arrived on May 1, 2009. Both girls were baptised in Tubac, Arizona, and the family navigates an interfaith household. Berlin is Jewish, whilst Faulkner is Baptist, but they’ve created a beautiful blend. “We share every meal. We share a prayer,” Faulkner told The Washington Times in 2022. “There are things that are commonalities between us with our faith that extend far beyond any sort of divisions.”
The family raises the children predominantly Christian, attending church and celebrating Christian holidays, whilst also honouring Jewish traditions, including Passover and reading from the Haggadah. It’s an approach that requires thoughtfulness and respect, which they’ve maintained throughout their marriage.
The family resides in Edgewater, New Jersey, in a 4,300-square-foot home near the Hudson River, purchased for approximately $1.35 million in July 2016. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they converted part of their home into a broadcast studio for Faulkner’s Fox News work.
Berlin played an unexpectedly significant role in his wife’s 2024 Fox Nation documentary, “Vietnam: Footsteps of My Father with Harris Faulkner.” Years before Faulkner’s father, Lt. Col. Bobby Harris, died on Christmas Day 2020, Berlin had the foresight to conduct pre-recorded interviews with him, preserving them on his mobile phone. These recordings became invaluable archival footage for the documentary exploring Faulkner’s journey to understand her father’s military service.
Beyond family life, Berlin remains a devoted Arizona Wildcats basketball fan and golfer who’s taught both daughters the sport. He maintains an active presence on LinkedIn and Twitter (@TonyBerlinMedia), where he shares industry insights and occasionally writes about his media experiences.
