Selassie is again defended on air, being much respected (6,8)

I believe the answer is:

highly regarded

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'respected' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'selassie is again defended on air being much' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'again' could be 're' (prefix meaning 'again') and 're' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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