Cleared by a certain judge given journalist’s coverage (10)
I believe the answer is:
exonerated
'cleared' is the definition.
('exonerate' can be a synonym of 'clear')
'by a certain judge given journalist's coverage' is the wordplay.
'by' becomes 'x' (as in 'multiplied by').
'a certain judge given' becomes 'onerate' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'coverage' indicates putting letters inside.
'x'+'onerate'='xonerate'
'xonerate' placed into 'ed' is 'EXONERATED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for exonerated that I've seen before include "justified?" , "Acquitted" .)