The word medium comes from the Latin word medius (middle).

The beginning of human communication through designed channels, i.e. not vocalization or gestures, dates back to ancient cave paintings, drawn maps, and writing.[4]

The Persian Empire (centred around present-day Iran) played an important role in the field of communication. It devised what might be described as the first real mail or postal system, which is said to have been developed by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great (c. 550 BC) after his conquest of Media. The role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time turned to indicate a tax system. The Old Testament (Esther, VIII) makes mention of this system: Ahasuerus, king of Medes, used couriers for communicating his decisions.[citation needed]

The word communication is derived from the Latin root communicare. This was due to the Roman Empire also devising what might be described as a mail or postal system, in order to centralize control of the empire from Rome. This allowed for personal letters and for Rome to gather knowledge about events in its many widespread provinces. More advanced postal systems later appeared in the Islamic Caliphate and the Mongol Empire during the Middle Ages.

The term "media" in its modern application relating to communication channels is traced back to its first use as such by Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, who stated in Counterblast (1954): "The media are not toys; they should not be in the hands of Mother Goose and Peter Pan executives. They can be entrusted only to new artists, because they are art forms." By the mid-1960s, the term had spread to general use in North America and the United Kingdom. ("Mass media", in contrast, was, according to H.L. Mencken, used as early as 1923 in the United States.)[5]

Electronic media[edit]
Main article: Electronic media
In the last century, a revolution in telecommunications has greatly altered communication by providing new media for long distance communication. The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast occurred in 1906 and led to common communication via analogue and digital media:

Analog telecommunications include some radio systems, historical telephony systems, and historical TV broadcasts.
Digital telecommunications allow for computer-mediated communication, telegraphy, and computer networks.
Modern communication media now allow for intense long-distance exchanges between larger numbers of people (many-to-many communication via e-mail, Internet forums, and teleportation). On the other hand, many traditional broadcast media and mass media favor one-to-many communication (television, cinema, radio, newspaper, magazines, and also facebook).

Electronic media is enjoying broader use every day with an increase in electronic devices being made. The meaning of electronic media, as it is known in various spheres, has changed with the passage of time. The term media has achieved a broader meaning nowadays as compared to that given it a decade ago. Earlier, there was multimedia, once only a piece of software (application software) used to play audio (sound) and video (visual object with or without sound). Following this, it was CD (Compact Disc) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), then camera of 3G (Third Generation) applications in the field. In modern terms, the media includes all the software which are used in PC (Computer) or Laptop or Mobile Phone installed for normal or better performance of the system; today, however, hard discs (used to increase the installation capacity of data) of computer is an example of electronic media. This type of hard disc is becoming increasingly smaller in size. The latest inclusion in the field is magnetic media (magnetic stripe) whose application is common, in the fastest growing Information Technology field. Modern day IT media is commonly used in the banking sector and by the Income Tax Department for the purpose of providing the easiest and fastest possible services to the consumers. In this magnetic strip, account information linking to all the data relating to a particular consumer is stored. Credit card, Debit card, ATM card, High end travel card are comprised within the term Media as it is known today. The main features of these types of media are prepared unrecorded (blank form), and data is normally stored at a later stage as per the requirement of its user or consumer .