Caixin is based in Beijing, no amount of personal integrity will give them the freedom to report sufficiently on any matter that has the potential to embarrass the CCP.
Caixin does excellent reporting even on major scandals. As the name (财新) indicates, they specialize in financial news. That means they're not widely read except by businesspeople, which is likely how they can get away with their riskier stories. Also, you need to distinguish between embarrassing the party leadership in Beijing vs. some local cadre who thinks that gagging the local media is enough to keep his dirty laundry under wraps.