A lot of newspaper copy leading to editor's first decree (9)
I believe the answer is:
prescribe
'decree' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a lot of newspaper copy leading to editor's' is the wordplay.
'a lot of newspaper' becomes 'pres' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'copy' becomes 'crib' (crib can mean to copy from another source).
'leading' suggests taking the first letters (the leading letter of the word).
The first letter of 'editors' is 'e'.
'pres'+'crib'+'e'='PRESCRIBE'
'first' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prescribe that I've seen before include "as doctor may order" , "Order use of (medicine or other treatment)" , "Lay" , "Recommend as beneficial" , "Advise use of (medicine)" .)