Well, there's defamation for many claims, so people aren't complete free to make false accusations. For example, Alex Jones of Info Wars is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits from the families of victims of mass shootings in which Jones made defamatory statements on air. But it's going to be a much higher standard than the government declaring your speech as "spreading rumors".

The journalists that got hurt were right in the thick of protests that sometimes got very violent. There's plenty of blame to go around there, of course. These do not appear to have been targeted attacks on journalists. Also, from what I understand there were a lot of people who were taking part in the protests, but had the press jacket on.

Now compare that to, say, the recent treatment of the Hong Kong media. Since 2019, one independent outlet after another has closed its doors as the police have raided their offices. Within just a few years, it's gone from media that was free to criticize the government for shortcomings to something more like the Chinese media, where publishing in contradiction of the CPC's narratives risks arrest.