Introduction: Media International Australia 18(4)

This special issue features papers that were selected from the ANZCA 2021 conference as among the highest quality presentations, as adjudged by attending participants. ANZCA 2021 focused on the theme of Communication, Authority and Power, a theme that found appeal across the diverse range of groups that constitute the ANZCA community. This focus informed a conference whose vibrancy compensated for the fact ANZCA members were unable to congregate face to face due to Melbourne's Covid-19 lockdowns. Communication, Authority and Power connected past and present, building on the strong critical tradition of communication and media studies that has informed and inspired much of the research produced by ANZCA researchers over the years. Furthering this tradition was particularly apt at a conference where the history of the association was celebrated in a panel discussion organised to mark the 40th anniversary of the Australian Communication Association, ANZCA's forerunner. This panel sought to look forward rather than back to reflect on pressing research agendas to develop for future work. Likewise, the conference theme allowed researchers to share their perspectives, agendas and research to reflect on how relations and mobilisations of authority and power, in which communication plays an integral and constitutive role, are structured, contested and subject to change in today's dynamic and rapidly changing communication ecologies