A pretence by journalist feeling guilt (7)
I believe the answer is:
ashamed
'a pretence by journalist feeling guilt' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'a pretence by journalist' is the wordplay.
'pretence' becomes 'sham' (I've seen this before).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'a'+'sham'+'ed'='ASHAMED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ashamed that I've seen before include "Abashed - embarrassed" , "Chagrined" , "Disconcerted with embarrassment" , "Feeling remorse and contrition" , "Having painful regret for behaviour" .)