Did you read in the Good Weekend last week the article by FenellaSouter entitled “Truth, Lies and Santa Claus: Exploding the Myths of Christmas” (not available online)?
It's the usual attempt to discredit the historical reality of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. However the article suffers from the same problems that the gospel writers are accused of falling into. Problems of source, consistency and more.
Many of us receive our news diet through normal media channels without question. We only hear the stories "they" think are newsworthy, not necessarily what you want or need to hear. And there is so often so much to process, its often hard to get the full - and true - story behind the headlines.