Journalists go full conspiracy theory mode following the release of Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president

President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was roughly 30 minutes long.

The White House transcript of the call, which was released Wednesday, is only five pages long.

For some in media, the difference between 30 minutes and five pages is enough to suggest — or declare outright — that a White House conspiracy is afoot, reminding us again that our press is one of the least trustworthy sources of information during complicated and fast-moving news cycles.

"The transcript text is right around 2,000 words, and the call took exactly 30 min — that's about 66 words per minute,” said the Nieman Journalism Lab’s Joshua Benton. “That's quite slow — roughly half normal speaking rate. (Zelensky is fluent in English.) Could suggest how much text isn't included [emphasis added].”

First of all, Zelensky is not fluent in English, as Radio Free Europe's Christopher Miller kept pointing out Wednesday. The Ukranian president “understands more than he's able to speak in English — but he's improving. His office has 'English Fridays,’” added Miller, who actually covers Ukrainian politics.

Oh, hush. Never let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy.

PBS News’ Lisa Desjardins tweeted elsewhere, “Memorandum of Phone Conversation: call was 9:03 - 9:33 Estimated time it would take to say all of the words released in the memo: 11 minutes. Checked by the great [Mike Melia] in our broadcast software (time of spoken words matters a lot on TV) from [PBS NewsHour].”