Newspaper chief tried desperately to bag duck (6)
I believe the answer is:
editor
'newspaper chief' is the definition.
(boss of a newspaper)
'tried desperately to bag duck' is the wordplay.
'desperately' indicates an anagram.
'to bag' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'duck' becomes 'o' (resembles zero - 'duck' in cricket).
'tried' with letters rearranged gives 'editr'.
'editr' placed around 'o' is 'EDITOR'.
(Other definitions for editor that I've seen before include "censor" , "Director of newspaper" , "Media boss" , "one to give some publicity?" , "Redo it and become head of publication" .)