Erratic journalist retracted report about university student (9)
I believe the answer is:
desultory
'erratic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'journalist retracted report about university student' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'university' could be 'u' (abbreviation for university) and 'u' is found within the answer.
'student' could be 'l' (as in L-plates for learner drivers) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'report' could be 'story' (synonyms) and 'story' is found in the remaining letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for desultory that I've seen before include "Random" , "Unenthusiastic" , "With neither plan nor purpose" , "Rambling" , "Unmethodical" .)