American journalist got it second-hand (4)
I believe the answer is:
used
'second-hand' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american journalist' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for United States).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'us'+'ed'='USED'
'got it' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for used that I've seen before include "Accustomed - exploited" , "not got directly" , "No longer pristine" , "Second-hand; exploited" , "with some traffic" .)