Print Sales Rose 5.8% in Christmas Week (publishersweekly.com)

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has taken the first step in implementing its store optimization strategy. Following a comprehensive evaluation of its retail footprint and a careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the Company, JCPenney identified the first phase of 154 store closures. Following entry of an order at the June 11, 2020, hearing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Corpus Christi, Texas, store closing sales will begin at 154 locations. The Company expects additional phases of store closing sales will begin in the coming weeks. As the Company remains focused on its Plan for Renewal and driving sustainable, profitable growth, it intends to reduce its store footprint and focus resources on its strongest stores and powerful eCommerce flagship store, jcp.com. Store closing sales for the first round of store closures are expected to take 10-16 weeks to complete. The list of 154 stores that will begin closing sales can be found on the JCPenney Blog.

InnerWorkings, Inc. announced that it is postponing the release of its first quarter 2018 financial results and conference call due to errors in its historical financial statements identified during the course of its first quarter financial reporting close process. The Company will be restating its financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, and all interim periods within those years. The accounting errors relate primarily to recording a portion of costs of goods sold in the wrong period, and have no material impact on InnerWorkings’ cash flow, revenue, or liquidity. The restated financial statements will also correct other errors identified during prior periods, which were immaterial individually and in the aggregate. Click Read More below for additional information.

A group of 10 organizations, including The Associated Press and Gannett, is calling for a legal framework to protect journalism from unregulated AI use. In an open letter titled, “Preserving public trust in media through unified AI regulation and practices,” the signees advocate regulatory and industry action to ensure: *Transparency about the makeup of training sets used to create AI models. *Consent of intellectual property rights holders on copying of their content in training data. *Ability of media companies to collectively negotiate with AI model developers about use of their intellectual property. *Requiring that generative AI models identify AI-generated content. *Mandating that generative AI model providers eliminate bias and misinformation.