Highlighted way editor welcomes leaderless journalists (8)
I believe the answer is:
stressed
'highlighted' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'way editor welcomes leaderless journalists' is the wordplay.
'way' becomes 'st' (abbreviation for street).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'welcomes' indicates putting letters inside (in sense of 'invites in').
'leaderless' means to remove the first letter.
'journalists' becomes 'press' (the press can mean the newspaper industry).
'st'+'ed'='sted'
'press' with its first letter removed is 'ress'.
'sted' placed around 'ress' is 'STRESSED'.
(Other definitions for stressed that I've seen before include "on edge" , "under force" , "Under great strain" , "Screwed up" , "Hassled, under pressure" .)