Each journalist concealing scandal initially relieved (5)
I believe the answer is:
eased
'relieved' is the definition.
('ease' can be a synonym of 'relieve')
'each journalist concealing scandal initially' is the wordplay.
'each' becomes 'ea' (abbreviation).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'concealing' is an insertion indicator.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'scandal' is 's'.
'ea'+'ed'='eaed'
'eaed' placed around 's' is 'EASED'.
(Other definitions for eased that I've seen before include "Made less hard" , "Comforted" , "became less tight" , "Slowed down" , "Became less painful" .)