Attention given to story run before now (7)
I believe the answer is:
earlier
'before now' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'attention given to story run' is the wordplay.
'attention' becomes 'ear' (ear is a kind of attention).
'given to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'story' becomes 'lie' (I've seen this before).
'run' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'ear'+'lie'+'r'='EARLIER'
(Other definitions for earlier that I've seen before include "Sooner in time" , "Older" , "Sooner - previously" , "Former" , "Formerly" .)