I don't think it was malice; musta been ...

So...
The local NBC franchise here in the DC area starts a bit on the holidays by announcing the end of the twelve days of Christmas and the beginning of Hannukah.

The twelve days of Christmas, of course, start on Christmas day. That's why Epiphany (6 Jan) is also called twelfth night.

So was the Anchor or, more likely, the newswriter speaking from ignorance or from malice?

Well, there's the old adage attributed to Bonaparte: "Never ascribe to malice what is adequately described by stupidity." That might be a paraphrase.

Does Napoleon's wit apply here?

Yep, I think so. Which invites the following question: if they're screwing this up, what else are they screwing up?