... helped a journalist to bring in papers (5)
I believe the answer is:
aided
'helped' is the definition.
('aid' can be a synonym of 'help')
'a journalist to bring in papers' is the wordplay.
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'to bring in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'a'+'ed'='aed'
'aed' placed around 'id' is 'AIDED'.
(Other definitions for aided that I've seen before include "given assistance" , "'Assisted, helped (5)'" , "not under their own steam?" .)