Telling state to protect a reporter on vacation (9)
I believe the answer is:
narration
'telling' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'state to protect a reporter on vacation' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'nation' (both can mean a country).
'to protect' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are protected or taken in).
'on vacation' suggests removing the centre (after the inside letters have vacated the word).
'reporter' with its centre taken out is 'rr'.
'a'+'rr'='arr'
'nation' going around 'arr' is 'NARRATION'.
(Other definitions for narration that I've seen before include "Account of events" , "Voice-over in film" , "Story" , "telling" , "Spoken account" .)