A simple test of a country: Look at the visa rules.
At this point these fall into one of four categories:
1) First world. You basically need to convince them you're not planning to overstay and you're not a criminal. For another first-worlder admission is generally a breeze, at most you'll need an electronic travel authorization (basically a visa-lite, but it's done without actually submitting your passport and they're simply checking you against undesirables.) There are some that don't quite fit the pattern because of how local laws see things--a big example of this is Canada and DUI. They regard DUI more seriously than we do, having one gets you lumped with criminals.
2) Third world. These are basically money grabs. No meaningful check is done.
3) Ideological. These are countries concerned with those who are politically undesirable. All second-world countries are of this type, although it is not restricted to second world countries. Such applications ask your profession and often your employer. (Such questions are common everywhere on business visas but not on tourist visas.) Having a profession of "reporter" is going to get you denied, working for a media company is going to make getting such a visa problematic. Other professions might even cause trouble. (We were turned down by Russia long ago because my parents were psychologists--coming to look at the tourist stuff and spend money, fine; coming to look at the society was not fine.)
4) Throttling. I'm only aware of one such country: Bhutan. They don't want to be overrun with tourists and their visa policy reflects this.
Look at the Chinese visa application. Profession and employer blanks.