Work on newspapers subject to tyrannical treatment (7)
I believe the answer is:
oppress
'subject to tyrannical treatment' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'work on newspapers' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'newspapers' becomes 'press' (the press is the newspaper industry).
'op'+'press'='OPPRESS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oppress that I've seen before include "'Persecute, come down heavy on (7)'" , "Be brutal to" , "Afflict" , "Distress" , "Treat harshly" .)