Mimicking the appalling lack of content (5)
I believe the answer is:
aping
'mimicking' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aping that I've seen before include "Mimicking like monkey" , "Acting like a parrot" , "Trying to repeat" , "Parroting" , "Making copy of" .)