Favourable slant by nearly all newspaper piece — and backbone (6,6)
I believe the answer is:
spinal column
'backbone' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'favourable slant by nearly all newspaper piece' is the wordplay.
'favourable slant' becomes 'spin' (as in political spin).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'nearly all' becomes 'al'.
'newspaper piece' becomes 'column' (I've seen this in another clue).
'spin'+'al'+'column'='SPINAL COLUMN'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for spinal column that I've seen before include "Backbone" , "Vertebral structure" .)