... Rob's essay reportedly covering the disheartened Left (5)
I believe the answer is:
steal
'rob's' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'essay reportedly covering the disheartened left' is the wordplay.
'essay reportedly' becomes 'sa' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'covering' is an insertion indicator.
'disheartened' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'left' becomes 'L' (common abbreviation).
'the' with its centre taken out is 'te'.
'sa' placed around 'te' is 'stea'.
'stea'+'l'='STEAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for steal that I've seen before include "Take illegally" , "Purloin" , "a snip!" , "Walk off with" , "Lift - pocket" .)