The debate sparked by the promotion of young female official Dong Haitao as deputy mayor of Donggang, Liaoning province, shows that some media outlets should stop blind criticism before truth comes out, says an article in Chongqing Morning Post. Excerpts:

People's Daily reported that an investigation found that 31-year-old Dong fit the new job and the promotion complied with proper procedures and criteria, and there was no proof that her husband's uncle, a senior official in the province, was involved.

Some people have a habit casting doubt on any young and attractive cadres' promotion. But it would be odd to conclude beauty leads to a rigged deal and disrespectful to those female officials, many of whom are both beautiful and capable.

Of course there are still a few cases of young women taking advantage of their beauty for promotion or corrupt deals, but it's obvious that the number of such cases is decreasing with the increasing transparency and openness of officials' selection and appointment.

As for her age, that should not be reason for doubt. Tsinghua graduate Zhou Senfeng was doubted when he was promoted to be mayor at age 29. Now he performs very well in another position. In the US, former US president Bill Clinton was also only 32 when he was elected governor of Arkansas. It's time some media outlets dropped criticism for the sake of criticism.