gadflies

They tended to be the sort of persistently-involved residents newspapermen often refer to as "gadflies" - deeply, obsessively concerned about issues large and infinitesimal in the communities where they lived.

SARA - Southeast Asian RSS Aggregator 2010

They tended to be the sort of persistently-involved residents newspapermen often refer to as "gadflies" - deeply, obsessively concerned about issues large and infinitesimal in the communities where they lived.

The Online Citizen Spiegel 2010

What are so-called gadflies like Olbermann and Moyers afraid of?

Philip Giraldi: Sibel Edmonds Must be Heard 2008

This link is sort of off-topic but really not, as it's yet another case (as in the present one) of the media doing their level best to shout down "the critics" -- the nattering nabobs of negativism -- and then, years later, admitting that the "gadflies" were right all along, and that what looked like a scam, walked like a scam, and quacked like a scam was -- quelle surprise!

Funky math with Mark Larabee (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

I take issue with the Strib calling them "gadflies" (defined as those who annoy especially by persistent criticism).

FreedomDogs.com - Your Minnesota Headquarters for Conservative Thought 2009

Even though broadcasters already compile most of the data the proposal would require posting online, they are fighting the plan heatedly, claiming that it would be burdensome and expensive and chiefly of interest to outside gadflies, not to the local populations they purport to serve.

Edward Wasserman: Forcing Media Transparency in Campaign Spending Edward Wasserman 2012

So far, most of the energy from gadflies like Williams has been devoted to the Walmart supply chain.

The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse 2011

As King said, "We must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."

John W. Whitehead: The 2010 Elections: Full of Sound and Fury, and Signifying Nothing John W. Whitehead 2010

One need look no further than The Daily Show piece to see the clips that started it all — conservative gadflies calling for people to ‘tea bag the white house’.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Inaccurate legal claim from the Democratic Governors Association 2010

Even though broadcasters already compile most of the data the proposal would require posting online, they are fighting the plan heatedly, claiming that it would be burdensome and expensive and chiefly of interest to outside gadflies, not to the local populations they purport to serve.

Edward Wasserman: Forcing Media Transparency in Campaign Spending Edward Wasserman 2012