You are free to practice any faith you want and there is no CCP version of a Christian church. The requirement is that it is registered with the state if you want to publicly recruit members and be a recognised church. It's no different from a new religion in the U.S. that needs to get designated as a religion by the government. The government in China is admittedly stricter on this approval because its history is littered with examples of millions dying in the name of religion like a particular devastating one that was a skewed version of Christianity.

And as for being a journalist and getting a good scoop on a massive public safety issue, you're right on that one but can find that closer to our own backyard, where journalists face the exact same thing from corporations who would go on to discredit the journalists then. It may not be the government doing it but considering corporate interests often take priority for media stories it's another form of the same thing. Difference is that in China the government owns many of the important corporations while in the U.S. the corporations "own" the government to a large degree.