Le Journal de la Haute-Marne

Le Journal de la Haute-Marne (JHM) (lit. 'The newspaper of Haute-Marne') is a French daily newspaper published in the Haute-Marne department of France. It had a total circulation of 16,462 in 2023.

A 19th-Century newspaper
Le Journal de la Haute-Marne was launched in 1807 and printed in Chaumont. It was almost entirely written by the lawyer Jean-Joseph Pothier. After his death, in 1810, his son and business partners disputed the ownership of the newspaper. During the July Monarchy, it merged with L'Écho de la Haute-Marne, and was published under that name until 1906.

From La Haute-Marne Libérée to a press group
At the time of the liberation of France, in September 1944, Gilbert Bletner founded a new newspaper under the name of La Haute-Marne Libérée.

In 1968, La Haute-Marne Libérée associates with L'Est Républicain, a newspaper from Nancy, under an economic interest group. The two newspapers were kept separately, although they were printed at the same place. They mostly shared the same content, apart from the local news pages. At the time, over 20 journalists worked for the two newspapers

La Haute-Marne Libérée became le Journal de la Haute-Marne in 1993 under the guidance of the founder's son, Jean Bletner, who had been managing the company since the 1960s.

In the 1990s, the Est Républicain group, owner of le Journal de la Haute-Marne was one of the twelve biggest regional newspaper group in France.

In the 2000s the Est Républicain group was purchased by the press group EBRA, led by the Crédit Mutuel. From then on, Le Journal de la Haute-Marne was integrated in one of France's biggest press group.

The web shift
In the early 2010s le Journal de la Haute-Marne became one of the pioneers of the advantages of the internet to the press.

At the same time, le Journal de la Haute-Marne got involved in social medias, especially Facebook and to a lesser extent on Twitter. In 2011, it ranked among the emerging titles in terms of interaction with web users, and added value on social networks for website linking.

This daily newspaper has over a hundred employees, thirty journalists, a network of 300 correspondents, 320 salespersons and 150 distributors. Former news editor Jean Bletner died on 31 July 2018.

Local agencies

 * Chaumont
 * Saint-Dizier
 * Langres