Surrounded by the morning papers (4)
I believe the answer is:
amid
'surrounded by' is the definition.
(amid means among or surrounded by)
'morning papers' is the wordplay.
'morning' becomes 'am' (as in 12:00 AM).
'papers' becomes 'ID' (identification papers).
'am'+'id'='AMID'
'the' is the link.
(Other definitions for amid that I've seen before include "Maid (anag)" , "A dim sort of preposition" , "Surrounded by" , "In the centre of" , "Amongst" .)