Governments around the globe have been weakening free-speech protections because of concerns about security or offending religious believers. After a phone-hacking scandal erupted in the British press and Muslims worldwide violently protested images in the Western media of the Prophet Muhammad, European nations enacted new restrictions on hate speech, and Britain is considering limiting press freedom. Autocratic regimes increasingly are jailing journalists and political dissidents or simply buying media companies to use them for propaganda and to negate criticism. Muslim countries are adopting and rigidly enforcing blasphemy laws, some of which carry the death penalty. Meanwhile, some governments are blocking or monitoring social media and cybertraffic, increasing the risk of arrest for those who freely express their thoughts online and dashing hopes that new technologies would allow unlimited distribution of information and opinion.

Alan Greenblatt has been writing about politics and government in Washington and the states for nearly two decades. As a reporter for Congressional Quarterly, he won the National Press Club’s Sandy Hume award for political journalism. While on staff at Governing magazine, he covered many issues of concern to state and local governments, such as budgets,taxes, and higher education. Along the way, he has written about politics and culture for numerous other outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR.org.