False step - error made by journalists (9)
I believe the answer is:
reporters
'journalists' is the definition.
(I know this)
'false step error made by' is the wordplay.
'false' is an anagram indicator.
'made by' says to put letters next to each other (letters written or made by another set of letters).
'step' after 'error' is 'errorstep'.
'errorstep' with letters rearranged gives 'REPORTERS'.
(Other definitions for reporters that I've seen before include "News journalists" , "They relay the news" , "News gatherers for the media" .)