Former Abiodun Aide, Kunle Somorin Bags PhD in Communication Studies at Crescent University, Abeokuta

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By: Waheed Ogunjobi 

ABEOKUTA— A foremost media practitioner and former Chief Press Secretary to Ogun State Governor, Prince  Dapo Abiodun, Mr. Sunday Olakunle Somorin, has bagged a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Communication Studies from Crescent University, Abeokuta.

Dr. Somorin was among the pioneer set of PhD graduates produced by the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Department of Mass Communication, Crescent University, Abeokuta.

He successfully defended his thesis on  Wednesday, capping a 5-year, 3-month academic journey in the university’s PhD programme.

Titled “Assessment of Media Framing of the 2023 Presidential Election Campaign”, the thesis examined how Nigeria’s national newspapers shaped public understanding of the most competitive presidential election since 1999. 

The study covered six titles — The PUNCH, ThisDay, Vanguard, Daily Trust, Daily Sun and LEADERSHIP — across the 149-day official campaign window from September 28, 2022 to February 23, 2023.

Drawing on Framing Theory, Agenda-Setting and Political Economy, Dr. Somorin and his research team coded 2,733 campaign stories in 894 editions, subjected 72 high-profile texts to Critical Discourse Analysis, and interviewed 9 editors and media scholars. 

The research team described it as one of the most extensive content audits of a Nigerian election to date.

The findings, he told the panel, revealed what he termed a “social responsibility deficit."

The research identified “geospatial bifurcation” in reportage: Southern-based papers leaned into a “moral renewal” frame around Peter Obi, while Northern-based titles foregrounded “administrative capacity” around Bola Tinubu. 

The study also diagnosed “Disputed Duopolism”  noting that while the Labour Party broke the APC-PDP script, 14 other parties remained largely “discursively invisible.”

More troubling, the thesis documented 1,027 ethical breaches within the campaign period. 

Dr. Somorin described this as “ethical elasticity,” a condition where professional standards were bent or ignored depending on political utility. 

“The press functioned less as a neutral Fourth Estate and more as a Participatory Gladiator,” he argued, citing layout choices and language as tools of semiotic warfare.

To address the gap, Dr. Somorin introduced the IMAT-ACERBATE framework — S = V + PB — proposed as an accountability tool for regulators and newsrooms to audit media performance during elections. 

He recommended decoupling editorial boards from proprietorial influence, mandating representational pluralism, and reviewing journalism curricula to prepare reporters for the pressures of electoral politics.

Dr. Somorin brings three decades of newsroom and government experience to the work. 

He has served as London Bureau Chief of ThisDay,  Editorial Director of LEADERSHIP , and Editor-in-Chief of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. 

He also served as Special Assistant on Media to the Hon. Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Austin Opara between 2003 and 2007, and as Director General of Research & Public Communications in Niger State. 

In the civil society and heritage space, he worked as Publications Manager at the Africa Leadership Forum in Ota.

Academically, Dr. Somorin holds degrees in English, International Affairs and Diplomacy. 

He is a regular columnist with national dailies, notably The PUNCH, where he writes the Sunday column “Democrazy” on democracy and statecraft.

He is a registered member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR; the Association of Communication Scholars and Practitioners of Nigeria, ACSPN; the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ; and the Guild of Editors.

According to him, the research is intended not to indict journalism,  but to “recalibrate it for the sake of democratic survival.”