Bad person editor thought highly of (5)
I believe the answer is:
rated
'thought highly of' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bad person editor' is the wordplay.
'bad person' becomes 'rat' (rat can mean a dishonourable person).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'rat'+'ed'='RATED'
(Other definitions for rated that I've seen before include "Admired" , "Classified or graded" , "Castigated" , "Graded by trade" , "Graded, ranked" .)