The Washington Post used its advertising airtime during the Super Bowl LIII on Sunday to highlight the importance of free press. The newspaper enlisted actor Tom Hanks to narrate the advertisement, which paid tribute to journalists killed in the line of duty.
Among those the ad remembered is Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whose murder was allegedly ordered by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Hanks described these journalists as those who “gather of facts to bring you the story, no matter the cost.” The actor had played Ben Bradlee, the Post’s executive editor, in the Steven Spielberg film The Post, about the Pentagon Papers.
The spot ended with the paper’s recent slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
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