Check out the fact checkers

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Lying has become rampant in public life.

In politics, it’s called “spin.”

In business, “public relations.”

In sports, “upper body injury.” Well, not exactly, but you get the drift.

The propensity of the press to produce “he said, she said” stories and otherwise give disproportionate coverage to the loudest voices in the room regardless of their credibility has helped enable this epidemic of dishonesty. Cable television and social media are also complicit.

In response, a number of websites dedicated to fact checking have set up shop in recent years. Here’s a rundown on the best of them.

• PoliFact.com is produced by the St. Petersburg Times. It won a Pulitizer Prize in 2009. The site provides perhaps the most concise, easy-to-digest analysis of claims, thanks in part to its “Truth-o-Meter.” PoliFact also tracks President Obama’s record in honoring campaign promises.
• FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.  The site offers detailed analysis of claims, complete with footnotes.
• The Fact Check is produced by The Washington Post. It, too, dives into details, but provides a concise summary via The Pinocchio Test. Four Pinocchios and your pants are on fire.

If there’s a drawback, it’s that they all focus on politicians. There is no counterpart for corporations.

Ditto for sports, although there’s always Deadspin. It doesn’t fact check, but also doesn’t attempt to report “upper body injuries” with a straight face.