The Paris-based press freedom group, Reporters Without Borders, ranks China as the sixth most repressive media environment in the world. Chinese reporters and the outlets they work for are routinely written off as mere government mouthpieces. While the Communist Party does maintain a tight grip in most areas, media production in China has exploded over the past three decades. With that has come new competition for readers, viewers, revenues - and the rise of a new kind of investigative reporting.