Media silence about northern recruiters (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
press gang
'recruiters' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Forcible recruiters ' mean 'press gang' so perhaps 'recruiters' could also mean 'press gang')
'media silence about northern' is the wordplay.
'media' becomes 'press' (the press is part of the media).
'silence' becomes 'gag' (gagging is a kind of silencing).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'gag' enclosing 'n' is 'gang'.
'press'+'gang'='PRESS-GANG'
(Other definitions for press gang that I've seen before include "Group with power to force civilians to serve in the armed forces" , "Coercive group" , "Group that forced civilians into the armed forces" , "Force into service" , "group of journos?" .)