Nothing was gripping in newspaper notice (4)
I believe the answer is:
obit
'newspaper notice' is the definition.
(obit is short for obituary)
'nothing was gripping' is the wordplay.
'nothing' becomes 'o' (looks like zero - 0).
'was gripping' becomes 'bit' (bite can mean to grip).
'o'+'bit'='OBIT'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for obit that I've seen before include "19d to remember" , "provides announcement of death" , "Notice, of late" , "The last word" , "Biography after death, in short" .)