Be cruel to journalists after work (7)
I believe the answer is:
oppress
'be cruel to' is the definition.
'journalists after work' is the wordplay.
'journalists' becomes 'press' (I've seen this before).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'press' after 'op' is 'OPPRESS'.
(Other definitions for oppress that I've seen before include "Afflict" , "Crush, subjugate" , "Trample down" , "Cause to suffer" , "Put down" .)