I can see the point the news anchor was trying to make, but I honestly think it's up to the parents to decide whether their kids will believe that kind of stuff.
As much as it's true that parents directly and indirectly affect what a child believes, I don't believe believing in santa or anything like that is necessary to enjoy christmas as a kid, nor to preserve the "magic" of christmas (could of course be because I never believed in santa to begin with, nor anything else similar either). Making your kids believe in santa is hardly the worst lie a parent can tell a child, but it's more the general view that parents should affect what the child believes in such a drastic way it really is that's the problem.
However, my biggest issue with this outcry is that I certainly don't think that santa is needed to keep the "magic" of christmas alive.