It's effectively illegal* in china to write unapproved stories about any government official or department or policy. I think that's what people mean when they say government dealings are 'secret'.
* i.e. to be a journalist you have to go through intense ideological screening; extreme prohibitions on foreign journalists operating in china; complete prior restraint on ALL media (and all education, all printing presses, communication technology, etc.)
I guess I'd see it more as a continuation of the whole 'kremlinology' trope. Granted, access is difficult in China atm. On the other hand, most of the press doesn't like to do deep investigative journalism in any case, so when you put a few barriers in their way, they tend to get real lazy real fast.
* i.e. to be a journalist you have to go through intense ideological screening; extreme prohibitions on foreign journalists operating in china; complete prior restraint on ALL media (and all education, all printing presses, communication technology, etc.)