Arrive shortly ahead of reporters and pack (8)
I believe the answer is:
compress
'pack' is the definition.
(I know that pack is a more specific form of the action compress)
'arrive shortly ahead of reporters' is the wordplay.
'arrive' becomes 'come' (synonyms).
'shortly' means to remove the last letter.
'ahead of' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go in front of others).
'reporters' becomes 'press' (newspaper reporters).
'come' with its last letter removed is 'com'.
'com'+'press'='COMPRESS'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for compress that I've seen before include "Press tightly together" , "concentrate" , "Squeeze; a staunching pad" , "Squeeze into less space" , "Crush" .)