BBC’s Investigative programme season Freedom2014 will run on the BBC World Service in English and across the BBC’s language services, on BBC World News television, BBC News Channel and BBC.com, until April 2014.As part of the season, the BBC will be calling on its worldwide audience to submit their own images of freedom.

Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC Global News said: “The BBC is a champion of media freedom. The BBC has long been a symbol of freedom, as the sole provider of impartial and balanced news reporting in many countries.’

“So I’m delighted to announce Global News’ Freedom2014 season, in which the BBC will explore what freedom means to people around the world. We are uniquely placed to explore this theme, drawing on the expertise of our journalists around the world to give local knowledge and context to powerful investigative journalism.”

The first contributions come from a number of well-known global figures describing what freedom looks like to them in a collection of specially commissioned videos. These include Astronaut Cmdr Chris Hadfield; Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; Anti-FGM campaigner Leyla Hussein; former hostage Norman Kember; Tourette’s ‘Superhero’ Jess Thom; and percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. They will launch online from January 29.

A wide variety of programmes are commissioned as part of the Freedom201​4​ season. They have been produced by journalists from across the World Service’s 27 Language services. Freedom2014 kicks off with the documentary Thailand’s Slave Fishermen on January 25.