Diane & Matt In Jerusalem: Coincidence?

An e-mailer asks: “Was it just a coincidence that Matt Lauer and Diane Sawyer were both in Jerusalem this morning?”

I think not. ABC’s been promoting its long-planned “7 New Wonders of the World” sweeps month event for weeks, publishing an ad asking “is this one?” last month.

Suddenly this week, NBC started promoting a series on religion under a similar slogan, called “what is it?” In a press release today, NBC said “The Mystery of Faith” is a week-long series. Then why did it start on a Friday? And why was it just announced today?

“As for Jerusalem, GMA has had permits to shoot in the old city for months. Today only applied for its permit last week,” an ABC e-mailer says. “GMA became aware of Today’s plans and moved the Diane Sawyer segment from this coming Monday to this morning. Then — surprise surprise — the Today Show moved its Jerusalem origination to this morning as well. Coincidence? Not likely. It’s weird to watch Today go to such lengths to try to blunt Diane Sawyer.”