Fanatical British papers pursuing artist (5)
I believe the answer is:
rabid
'fanatical' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'british papers pursuing artist' is the wordplay.
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC').
'papers' becomes 'ID' (identification papers).
'pursuing' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'b'+'id'='bid'
'bid' after 'ra' is 'RABID'.
(Other definitions for rabid that I've seen before include "Fanatical - hydrophobic" , "Zealous" , "Furious like mad dog?" , "extremist" , "Raging (having been bitten by a dog?)" .)