This afternoon, shareholders at Dow Jones & Co. approved a measure giving the Bancroft family more control over the company. The move confirms something most folks have known for awhile: the Wall Street Journal is, uh, pretty freaking screwed these days.

Things may well get worse before they get better. A special Gawker correspondent reports: "Word on the street is that the NYT is ready to poach some WSJ talent, specifically market columnist Jim Browning. (Browning didn't return a call or email.) If Browning leaves the paper, he'd be following in the steps of other big guns, including Barney Calame, Steve Adler, Helene Cooper, Larry Ingrassia, Charles Gasparino, and Al Hunt. Morale is very low, even for a newspaper (no raises, profits down, and that fluffy Saturday edition set to launch this fall). The recent public humiliation of reporter Robert Frank at the hands of Don Imus isn't helping things either."
Dow Jones Shareholders Vote on Measure [AP via Yahoo! News]