Other replies seem to suggest that China is amazingly good at filtering out dissidents in their visa application process... Actually it’s just that if you want

Other replies seem to suggest that China is amazingly good at filtering out dissidents in their visa application process... Actually it’s just that if you want to be a foreign journalist and live in China, you need to apply for a special Journalist visa. The process of application for those is much more difficult than other types of visa. Which makes it very easy to select which media to approve.