Queen once seen in American news (4)
I believe the answer is:
anne
'queen once' is the definition.
(Queen Anne, 18th-century queen)
'in american news' is the wordplay.
'in' says the answer is hidden in the clue.
'ANNE' is hidden in the letters of 'american news'.
'seen' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for anne that I've seen before include "Shakespeare's wife's name" , "Boleyn or Hathaway, say" , "One of the Bronte' tens" , "Queen seventeen hundred and two to seventeen fourteen" , "- of Green Gables (children's classic)" .)