Media is a format for transferring information. If you invent a way of communicating by training spiders to weaves webs to spell words, this would arguably be a "New Media" for communication.
The phrase came to prominence in the 1990s. It was taken to mean digital forms of communication, specifically CDs and the internet.
The term garnered many negative associations due to a gold rush mentality of people claiming benefits for the medium that were unjustified.
