“We could easily publish a photo of an injured or dead Syrian child every day,” says photo editor Karen Cetinkaya. “But we try to be conscious of the reader’s tolerance for such strong imagery. That said, we regularly put photos of the carnage in Syria into the mix of choices for the front page whether we have a daily story from the region or not, because it’s important that these people not be forgotten. Their situation is so harrowing and it’s been going on for so long with no end in sight.”

Meaghan Looram, a deputy director of photography, concurs that the photos may transcend the written words available on a given day: “Often, we bring photographs like these to the attention of the masthead editors and make a case for the photograph being published as a stand-alone image, independent of any story. This is often the case with photographs from Syria that demonstrate the toll of the conflict on civilians.

“A thoughtful discussion between the photo editor and masthead editors precedes the final decision on images,” she adds, “taking into account the mix of news of that day and the newsworthiness, emotional impact and aesthetic strength of the photographs in question.”

Of course Syria is but one of many war zones from which we publish images of civilians caught up in carnage. After one memorable tragedy on a beach in Gaza two years ago, we published on our front page a photo by the Pulitzer Prize winning Tyler Hicks of two boys killed in an Israeli bombardment. Over many years, The Times also published countless startling photographs from the Iraq war.