Telling state to protect a reporter on vacation (9)
I believe the answer is:
narration
'telling' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'state to protect a reporter on vacation' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'nation' (both can mean a country).
'to protect' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are held or protected).
'on vacation' suggests removing the centre (after the inside letters have vacated the word).
'reporter' with its centre removed is 'rr'.
'a'+'rr'='arr'
'nation' placed around 'arr' is 'NARRATION'.
(Other definitions for narration that I've seen before include "Account of events" , "Voice-over in film" , "Story" , "telling" , "Spoken account" .)