This week, a Romney pollster responded to several critical fact-checks of a campaign ad by saying "we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers." Brooke talks to former New Hampshire governor and former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu about the ad and the institution of fact-checking.

Jenny Scheinman - A Ride With Polly Jean

In pursuit of balance, there is a journalistic inclination to shy away from fact-checking in favor of reporting both sides of a debate. Brooke reflects on fact-checking assertions made at the Republican National Convention, and talks to The Atlantic's James Fallows who says that Journalists are - slowly and painfully - becoming more courageous in embedding fact-checks in their stories.

Yesterday and today, OTM's very own Brooke Gladstone filled in for WNYC's Brian Lehrer, the mid-morning talk show heard on WNYC and around the country on Sirius radio. Take a listen to the two full shows, or just check out her conversation with Micah Sifry of Tech President. He and Brooke talked about how the Obama and Romney campaigns are using data to both identify key voters, and precisely target them. Take a listen below, and read some background material on Big Data here.

You can be forgiven for watching the republican presidential debates this primary season and wondering what it is all for. Canned answers.  False camaraderie.  But debates are much, much more informative than television advertising, says professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Brooke speaks with Jamieson who says the debates have informed voters and allowed candidates with little money to rise in the polls. Jamieson is the director of Factcheck.org and the new Flackcheck.org.