Worn out female journalist carrying beam (6)
I believe the answer is:
frayed
'worn out' is the definition.
(fraying is a kind of wearing out)
'female journalist carrying beam' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'carrying' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, the bottom letters carry others).
'beam' becomes 'ray' (synonyms).
'ed' put after 'ray' is 'rayed'.
'f'+'rayed'='FRAYED'
(Other definitions for frayed that I've seen before include "Worn at the edge" , "Tattered and worn at edges" , "in tatters" , "Worn away at the edges" , "Threadbare and worn" .)