About 404TN Journal
404TN Journal is an independent publication covering Tunisia through investigative journalism, evidence-based analysis and documented public-interest reporting.
We examine the country's institutions, economy, environment, public services and other matters of public interest through primary sources, official data, public records and verifiable documentation.
Our starting point is simple:
Establish the record before drawing the conclusion.
404TN Journal is the editorial and reporting arm of the wider 404TN project—an independent investigative and accountability platform built to document Tunisia's public record and make the evidence behind its reporting accessible for scrutiny.
What we do
404TN Journal publishes investigations, analysis and explanatory reporting on issues affecting Tunisia.
Our areas of coverage include:
- Economy and employment — growth, unemployment, public debt, inflation, trade and public finance.
- Institutions and governance — laws, executive decisions, institutional change and public accountability.
- Environment and infrastructure — water, energy, pollution, industrial activity and public infrastructure.
- Public services — the documented performance of institutions responsible for essential services.
- Rights and public affairs — legislation, institutional actions and developments affecting Tunisia's civic and public sphere.
- Data and public records — analysis built from official statistics, legal texts, administrative documents and structured datasets.
We do not begin with the conclusion we want to reach.
We begin with the material that can be established.
Evidence before conclusions
404TN Journal distinguishes between what a source establishes, what someone claims, and what our reporting concludes from the available evidence.
This distinction is fundamental to our work.
A government announcement establishes that an announcement was made. It does not necessarily establish implementation.
A statistic establishes a measured value within its methodology and period. It does not automatically explain its cause.
Institutional responsibility establishes a legal or administrative mandate. It does not, by itself, establish causation, wrongdoing or individual liability.
An allegation remains an allegation unless sufficient evidence supports a stronger conclusion.
And where reliable information is unavailable, we identify the data gap rather than fill it with speculation.
These principles reflect the methodology used throughout the wider 404TN evidence platform, which classifies material according to its evidentiary status and maintains explicit source provenance. 404TN
How we report
Wherever possible, our reporting starts with primary material.
That can include official gazettes and legislation, court and administrative records, statistical releases, government documents, institutional reports, public datasets, financial records, academic research and attributable first-hand material.
Secondary reporting can provide context, identify leads or corroborate events, but it does not automatically replace the underlying source.
We also preserve distinctions that are often lost in public debate:
Fact is not allegation.
Responsibility is not automatically causation.
Causation is not automatically wrongdoing.
Absence of evidence is not evidence we are free to invent.
When evidence changes, reporting should change with it.
When a factual error is established, it should be corrected.
When uncertainty remains material to a conclusion, readers should be able to see that uncertainty.
Journal and evidence platform
404TN operates through two complementary layers.
404TN Journal is where we publish journalism: investigations, analysis, explanatory reporting and longer-form work.
404TN.com is the underlying documentary and evidence platform, where readers can examine structured evidence, source provenance, datasets, timelines, investigative dossiers and methodology.
The main platform already maintains an evidence register and documentary investigations across areas including the economy, water, environmental issues, migration, public services and institutional accountability. 404TN
The relationship is intentional.
Journalism should lead readers to evidence. Evidence should allow readers to scrutinize the journalism.
Explore the 404TN Evidence Platform
Editorial independence
404TN is independent.
The wider 404TN project publicly states its editorial and political perspective rather than presenting that perspective as invisible neutrality. At the same time, its published methodology requires the evidentiary threshold to remain separate from editorial position. 404TN
For 404TN Journal, that means criticism does not reduce the burden of proof.
Claims concerning government institutions, opposition actors, organizations, companies or individuals should be assessed according to the evidence supporting the claim—not according to whether the claim is politically convenient.
Where credible evidence contradicts our assumptions, the evidence takes priority.
What we do not claim
404TN Journal is not a court, regulatory authority or public institution.
Our investigations may document decisions, expenditure, institutional responsibility, discrepancies, implementation failures or unanswered questions.
Those findings should not be converted automatically into allegations of criminal conduct or personal liability.
Where legal responsibility, intent or causation has not been established, we say so.
This boundary is particularly important in accountability journalism. The main 404TN accountability framework therefore explicitly separates institutional responsibility, causal attribution and legal liability. 404TN
Transparency and corrections
Credibility depends not on pretending that journalism is infallible, but on making its evidentiary basis inspectable.
Where appropriate, 404TN Journal links directly to the underlying documents, datasets and 404TN evidence records used in its reporting.
Material corrections should be made transparently. Significant changes that affect the meaning or conclusion of an investigation should be disclosed to readers rather than silently rewritten.
Sources may also evolve. Official statistics can be revised, new documents can become public and additional evidence can alter an earlier assessment.
Our record should reflect that.
Why 404TN Journal exists
Tunisia generates no shortage of political claims, official declarations, statistics, commentary and competing narratives.
The difficult work comes afterward:
What happened?
What was promised?
What was actually implemented?
What do the records show?
What remains unknown?
404TN Journal exists to investigate those questions without collapsing the distance between a claim and a fact.
We do not expect readers to accept a conclusion simply because 404TN published it.
Where the evidence can be made public, readers should be able to examine it themselves.
That is the standard we intend to build this publication around.
Evidence before conclusions.
Tunisia, on the record.