Lacks direction of journalists (5)
I believe the answer is:
needs
'lacks' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'direction of journalists' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'direction' could be 'ne' (NE is an example) and 'ne' is present in the answer.
'journalists' could be 'eds' (ed is short for editor) and 'eds' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for needs that I've seen before include "Necessitates" , "Calls for" , "Can't do without" , "Misses" , "What is required" .)