Old Independent journalist covering parts say penned by poet (5,7)

'old independent journalist' is the definition.

'covering parts say penned by poet' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'covering' could be 'skin' (skin is a kind of covering) and 'skin' is located in the answer.
'say' could be 'eg' and 'eg' is found in the leftover letters.
'poet' could be 'milton' (John Milton) and 'milton' is located in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...