Pulled American journalist (6)
I believe the answer is:
yanked
'pulled' is the definition.
(yanking is a kind of pulling)
'american journalist' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'yank' (Yank can informally mean an American).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'yank'+'ed'='YANKED'
(Other definitions for yanked that I've seen before include "Pulled sharply" , "Pulled with sudden sharp tug" , "Jerked vigorously" , "Tugged sharply at" , "Pulled hard at, gave sudden tug" .)