U2 supports CPJ as it launches new EP ‘Days of Ash’

New York, February 18, 2026—Irish rock band U2 has named the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) one of three charitable partners it is supporting as it launches “Days Of Ash” — a self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem inspired by the “many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the front lines of freedom.” 

The EP is being released ahead of a new album in late 2026.

In launching “Days of Ash,” U2 frontman Bono describes the collection as “songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now … because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there’s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times, and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future.”

CPJ is being named alongside Amnesty International and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as one of the organizations U2 is supporting in conjunction with the release.

“We are deeply grateful to be recognized by U2 in this way,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “As Bono notes, there is nothing normal about these times and journalists play a vital role in bearing witness to the abuses we see taking place worldwide.”

You can donate to CPJ’s work here.

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About the Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

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