An increasing number of newspapers are facing the dire consequences of being closed unless their owners can find a buyer. Considering the state of newspapers in general and this being the worst economy in 50 years, the prospect of finding someone with the wherewithal to take over a paper is pretty slender. That’s the situation Journal Register (OTCBB: JRCO), which owns 27 daily newspapers and 327 non-daily papers, found itself in as it tried to unload its dozens of smalltown weeklies. Mediapost catalogs the recent list of 33 fallen—or about to fall—Journal Reg papers throughout New York, Connecticut, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

As we noted last month, two Journal Reg-owned Connecticut dailies, The Bristol Press and The Herald  were about two weeks away from stopping the presses for good, but Michael Schroeder, owner of Central Connecticut Communications and a former Newsday exec, stepped in with an offer to buy. That deal also saved three Connecticut weeklies, but these days, such deals appear to be the exception, not the rule.

• Journal Register Shareholder Wants To Invest $25 Million In Company— If Lenders Restructure