Not so much gullible as well paid, or you might say paid to be gullible. There are many unholy arrangements with Chinese interests. And these deals are initiated from both sides.
Imagine if you had a fetish where you liked your prostitute to ... act gullible. She's not really gullible, but for a few dollars, she's happy to be gullible.
Hence we call the journalists 'whores.'
It goes well beyond the journalists to the C-suites of the large media conglomerates - AT&T, Disney, Comcast, Google, Amazon, etc.
LOL - good one...