Special note probing government's dishonesty and plots (10)
I believe the answer is:
storylines
'plots' is the definition.
(I know this)
'special note probing government's dishonesty' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'special' could be 's' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service) and 's' is found within the answer.
'note' could be 'line' (as in dropping someone a line) and 'line' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for storylines that I've seen is " Plots".)