Newspaper perhaps, vital thing (5)
I believe the answer is:
organ
'newspaper perhaps' is the definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for organ that I've seen before include "with a lofty tone?" , "means for communicating information" , "Medium of information - most churches have one" , "Musical instrument - pancreas, perhaps" , "Perhaps one that's stopped" .)