Mediatel has appointed Omar Oakes as editor of Mediatel News, the UK’s leading combined platform for media tech, data, thought-leadership and editorial coverage of the media and advertising industry.
Oakes joins Mediatel News from Haymarket Media Group, where he has served the past six years on Campaign, first as news editor, then as global technology editor, before becoming media and technology editor in September 2020.
Prior to joining Haymarket Media Group, Oakes helped the Telegraph build its tablet app as deputy editor for the tablet editions team, and worked for Newsquest as digital editor and manager of 11 regional news websites in south-west London, including the Your Local Guardian series, the Surrey Comet and the Richmond & Twickenham Times.
“Mediatel News has a formidable reputation for authoritative and insightful analysis of the latest trends and stories of the day so I’m incredibly proud to be given this opportunity to take this go-to editorial platform for media leaders onto the next level,” Oakes said. “There is huge scope to grow both its editorial reach and influence and following Mediatel’s recent strategic partnership with Adwanted Group, I felt this to be an ideal time to step-forward and help Mediatel News achieve its future ambitions.”
Oakes will start at Mediatel News on 17 May. He fills the vacant editor’s role left by David Pidgeon who stepped down after almost eight years in the post at the start of July 2020.
Since then, Mediatel News has been run by news editor, Michaela Jefferson and contributing editor, Mike Fletcher. Jefferson left Mediatel News in March this year.
Mediatel CEO, Greg Grimmer said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Omar to the Mediatel family. His journalistic experience and knowledge of the industry will be a valuable asset to maintaining the high editorial standards set by both past and present members of the team. We had some great applicants for the role but Omar stood out as the person who can best help us fulfil our ambitions across both our publishing and event platforms and also help us accelerate our output in video and audio content. We look forward to assisting him in bringing those ambitions to fruition.”
