Crossword Genius

Very unpopular journalist has pissed off in the van (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

despised

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

'very unpopular' is the definition.
'despised' can be an answer for 'unpopular' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'very' bit.

'journalist has pissed off in the van' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'journalist' could be 'ed' (short for editor) and 'ed' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'pissed' is 'despis' which is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for despised that I've seen before include "Felt contempt for" , "Had contempt or scorn for" , "Detested" , "held in contempt" , "Looked down on" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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