Thing is . . .
Diefenbaker isn't "old news." The uttering of his name isn't even limited to a post-Confederation Canadian history class.
Not long ago there was talk of exhuming his body to settle a paternity dispute.
Further the use of online tools like Wikipedia et al. appears to be the name of the game, possibly even a credible source, in journalism these days.
Lo and behold Wikipedia has a pronunciation guide at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English to help one decipher and sound out - diːfənˌbeɪkər
Does anyone pre-read a newscast anymore? If one is so incapable of reading through a newscast live then why not resort to pre-recording it? At least this might provide enough time to edit and correct the "booting" of names and not sound so jarring.
Russ, maybe that's why Barry Wall did just that during his short-run at 97 KISS FM with Rob and Val. Perhaps he too couldn't easily pronounce the names of certain athletes.
Does anyone help the less experienced learn on the job? Mike Cleaver has posted elsewhere about Dick Smyth logging newscasts at 1050 CHUM and actively reviewing them. Do the news directors at Global News (radio/tv) under Troy Reeb's tutelage do the same?
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .