The Washington Post has debuted its first Super Bowl commercial, highlighting the dangerous work done by journalists around the world, despite criticism from some staff about the decision to spend about $10m (£7.7m) on an advert at a time when journalists are being made redundant across the industry.

The 60-second ad, narrated by Tom Hanks, features journalists who have been killed or disappeared, including Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince and was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October.

Also featured were Austin Tice, a freelance reporter missing in Syria for six years, and Marie Colvin, a Sunday Times correspondent who was killed in Syria in 2012.

The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) Because knowing empowers us.

Knowing helps us decide.

Knowing keeps us free.#democracydiesindarknesshttps://t.co/j20M5UBdq2 pic.twitter.com/bCtLZrUURJ

The ad referenced key moments from US history, including scenes from the second world war, moon landing and Oklahoma bombing, as Hanks says: “When we go off to war, when we exercise our rights, when we soar to our greatest heights … There is someone to to gather the facts, to bring you the facts, no matter the cost. Because knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.”

The spot ended with the Post’s slogan, “democracy dies in darkness”.

Super Bowl adverts cost more than $5m for a 30-second slot this year, according to CNBC, suggesting the Washington Post may have spent more than $10m to show the advert.

The newspaper is owned by Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and a longtime target of Donald Trump. Bezos has helped fund the outlet’s expansion at a time when other online news operations were shedding hundreds of staff.

Despite this, the decision to spend such an enormous sum on the promotion has prompted a backlash from Washington Post staff, who suggested they would have preferred if that money had been spent on journalists. Feature writer Dan Zak shared the advert with a barbed comment aimed at bosses: “Now unfreeze our pensions, pay an equal wage and strengthen maternity benefits.”

Fellow newspaper staffer Fredrick Kunkle, a co-chair of the newspaper’s staff union, added: “While I too am extremely proud of the Post and its legacy this seems like an especially infuriating expense for a company that has: a) tried to take healthcare insurance from part-time employees b) moved everyone toward riskier forms of health insurance.”

In a memo to Post employees last week, publisher Fred Ryan said the newspaper felt it was “the right moment, at the right venue, to present this important message to the large audience of Americans and international viewers”.

Super Bowl adverts are often notoriously expensive even before paying for the airtime, with brands spending most of the year working on celebrity-laden promotions that are only likely to be shown once on TV. By contrast, the Washington Post said their promotion was pulled together in “the lesser part of a week”, suggesting the slot became available at the last minute.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook, a longtime rival of Bezos, shared the ad with the comment: “Proud to stand with @washingtonpost and journalists everywhere in support of press freedom.”

The advert was, perhaps inevitably, immediately criticised by supporters of the US president, who regularly attack the newspaper – which has broken many major scoops about the administration – for its connections to one of the wealthiest men in the US. Donald Trump Jr was unimpressed: ”You know how MSM journalists could avoid having to spend millions on a Super Bowl commercial to gain some undeserved credibility? How about report the news and not their leftist BS for a change.”