Investigating corruption and the drug trade has cost 150+ journalists their lives since 2007. Javier Valdez, murdered in 2017, was one of the most iconic ones.

Every journalist’s murder brings more silence. In some Mexican states, there are no voices left to speak up freely, giving the criminal organizations and corrupt officials the upper hand.

Propuesta Cívica, an NGO that provides legal support to the families of murdered journalists, looked for a way to promote their cause and let the journalists continue to speak up.

There’s no better way to protect the journalist’s lives than creating a culture of a proactive society, demanding access to proper information, and raising their voices; but never remaining asleep.

The Mexican population in a state of denial:

After years of corrupt governments tolerating violence from organized crime, murders became normal.

Research based on two-year tracked searches and social media conversations showed a huge drop of interest on related matters: Less than 3% on “murdered Journalists”, “freedom of expression”, amongst Mexican internauts.

We analyzed the stakeholders’ responses to different pieces of communication. Testimonials are proven to be more effective because of their connection to a real person's story. That’s how we learned that no one would be better than a murdered journalist to become our influencer. Javier Valdez was the most iconic, because of the depth of the investigations he did, and the relevance of the media he worked for.

We targeted prominent journalists, so they could be the first to simultaneously spread the message with a powerful call to action.

They try to silence us, but we’re #StillSpeakingUp

Can a murdered journalist refuse to be silenced? What if it only made their voice louder, while also helping protect their colleagues?

According to Mexican traditions, Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is when deceased relatives and friends revisit their families.

For the president it wasn’t a relative nor a friend, but Javier Valdez - a journalist murdered for his investigations; who, thanks to AI, came back on that day in 2020 to demand justice for himself and his colleagues, and free speech for everyone.

THE ONLY JOURNALIST THAT CAN SPEAK UP WITHOUT FEAR IN MEXICO IS A DEAD ONE.

Using AI, we brought Javier Valdez, murdered in 2017, and his work back to life. Instead of becoming silent, Javier became the symbol of resistance, and even more — a face and voice behind whom his other colleagues could anonymously continue speaking up.

The project ran in main Mexican and international news, including national TV, social media, and news websites, generating 349M impressions in less than 1 week.

This campaign is part of the #StillSpeakingUp platform created to use the identities of murdered journalists to protect the safety of the ones at risk today.

April 2019. Murdered journalists’ Twitter accounts revived

Feb 2020. The press conference w/ pilot video of revived Javier

Nov 2020. Day of the Dead: Javier addresses the president on National TV