On 27 June 1798, shortly after the French invasion and occupation of Malta, Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois approved a request which theoretically allowed freedom of the press in the islands.

[2] The newspaper was short-lived and publication stopped in September after a rebellion against French occupation broke out among the Maltese population.

[1] The Journal de Malte was bilingual, and each page was divided into two columns with French text on the left and Italian on the right.

[1] The newspaper was a form of propaganda,[1] and it was aimed at boosting the morale of the French garrison as well as indoctrinating the small portion of the Maltese population which was literate.

[1] The print run of the Journal was set at 500 copies in August 1798, and efforts were made to distribute the paper in both the urban area around the Grand Harbour (consisting of the capital Valletta, Floriana and the Three Cities) as well as the rural towns and villages.