Journalist joining small people in boat getting fixed (7)
I believe the answer is:
screwed
'fixed' is the definition.
(screwing is a kind of fixing)
'journalist joining small people in boat' is the wordplay.
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'joining' says to put letters next to each other.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'people in boat' becomes 'crew' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
's'+'crew'='screw'
'ed' after 'screw' is 'SCREWED'.
'getting' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for screwed that I've seen before include "Swindled; twisted into place" , "Fastened - cheated - drunk" , "in serious trouble" , "tight?" , "Tightened - fastened (together)" .)