Just misreported perhaps the essence of the story? (4)
I believe the answer is:
gist
'essence of the story?' is the definition.
'gist' can be an answer for 'essence' (synonyms). I'm not sure about the 'of the story?' bit.
'just misreported perhaps the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'gis' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gist that I've seen before include "The essential point of something" , "Main idea, kernel of matter" , "Essential point or general sense of anything" , "Central idea" , "Main point of the matter" .)