The Washington Post, whose columnist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated last October, a year after Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta, launched a Super Bowl advert on Sunday highlighting the dangerous work done by journalists around the world.

The advert, which features journalists who have been killed or disappeared, is narrated by actor Tom Hanks who played former executive editor Ben Bradlee in ‘The Post,’ a 2017 film about the newspaper’s work to help expose a decades-long cover-up of government secrets.

“When we go off to war, when we exercise our rights, when we soar to our greatest heights… there is someone to gather the facts, to bring you the facts, no matter the cost.”

“Knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.”

The advert showed multiple slain and missing journalists, including Austin Tice, Marie Colvin and Jamal Khashoggi.

It was a first at the Super Bowl –  the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the US. It is so popular that the day on which the Super Bowl is played is considered by some as an unofficial American national holiday called “Super Bowl Sunday”.

The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who tweeted: “Grateful for the journalists at the @washingtonpost and around the world who do the work, no matter the risk or dangers they face.”

The advert, which CNBC reported cost $5.2 million, ended with the newspaper’s slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”