Alienated journalist swigging rum (9)
I believe the answer is:
estranged
'alienated' is the definition.
('estrange' can be a synonym of 'alienate')
'journalist swigging rum' is the wordplay.
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'swigging' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'rum' becomes 'strange' ('strange' can be a synonym of 'rum'**).
'ed' placed around 'strange' is 'ESTRANGED'.
(Other definitions for estranged that I've seen before include "no longer friendly" , "Split" , "Alienated, disaffected" , "Cut off" , "Having become unfriendly or alienated" .)