Wow! there is a LOT of red in those listings. Frankly, if my broker was STUPID enough to buy those, I'd go looking for a new one. As you can see under mutal fund ownership, almost ALL brokers listed have or are dumping them. There's simply no money to be made there.
Some mutual funds companies have been dumping NYT and other newspaper stocks and sadly some have increased their holdings.
As you noted, most of us would fire our brokers if we had one who bought or tried to buy these losers. Yet many investors tolerate poor performance from those who run their mutual funds.
With the sad performance of most of the Dinosaur fishwraps, buying more NYT or maybe even holding on to NYT stock borders on criminal behavior by those fund managers, IMHO.