Assuming it is true that NB politics is elite-captured by wealthy interests it is an omission of investigative journalism to at least raise the issue. The Irvin

Assuming it is true that NB politics is elite-captured by wealthy interests it is an omission of investigative journalism to at least raise the issue. The Irvings are likely "talk of the town" regarding this controversy, it would actually be the decent thing to voice the complaints of the locals. "Many locals have pointed finger at X corporation, and made the accusation Y" is also still journalistic documentation, if you want a paper of record. Journalism isn't narrowly about facts like in science, it is also about people and the complaints different groups have about each other, so it is not speculation to elucidate those conflicts and power dynamics by merely recording that they exist. An in depth article should have addressed this, somehow even if it were to conclude for the moment there is no substance to the locals' complaints about the Irving family. The Elephant in the Room is not to be dismissed as mere speculation.