Journalist enthralled by smart language (7)
I believe the answer is:
swedish
'language' is the definition.
(Swedish is an example)
'journalist enthralled by smart' is the wordplay.
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'enthralled by' indicates putting letters inside ('enthral' can mean 'capture').
'smart' becomes 'swish' (I've seen this before**).
'ed' placed within 'swish' is 'SWEDISH'.
(Other definitions for swedish that I've seen before include "Soprano Jenny Lind, b. Stockholm 1798, d. Herefordshire 1887" , "He saw Miss Degas (anag) -- Scandinavian body work" , "Nordic" , "like Bergman" , "A Scandinavian language" .)