News channels admitted to Tories being jokers (9)

I believe the answer is:

comedians

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'jokers' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'news channels admitted to tories' is the wordplay.
'news channels' becomes 'media' (I've seen this before).
'admitted to' is an insertion indicator.
'tories' becomes 'cons' (short for Conservatives).
'media' placed inside 'cons' is 'COMEDIANS'.

'being' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for comedians that I've seen before include "MB etc" , "Entertainers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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