The Syrian Conflict and its News Values

Today's top story on BBC News-World was about the Syrian conflict, and the continuation of heavy fighting in the Syrian capital, Damascus, as well as the northern city of Aleppo. Since this is BBC News- World, the headlines would be very different from what would appear on the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, etc., publications which cater to a more specialized audience. An article on Syria would not be attempting to appeal to any particular demographic, rather, it would just be for informative purposes.
You really could not say timeliness is one of the relevant news values, because this has been an ongoing conflict for the past year, with bombings and lives lost daily. Proximity would not be relevant either because anyone anywhere in the world could read this. Novelty would not be relevant because there is nothing new about this.
It does however have impact, magnitude, conflict, and some emotional appeal.

Conflict, or who hates whom, is the central news value here. President Bashar al-Assad and the forces loyal to him are fighting against those who demand his resignation. What's worse is that with major powers unable to agree on a way forward at the UN Security Council, Mr Assad showing no signs of leaving power and the opposition deeply divided, there appears to be no end in sight.

Magnitude, or who was affected (how many thousands of people) is crucial here because this has been an ongoing conflict since March 2011. Almost 25,000 Syrians have died in the conflict between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule. In addition, the United Nations refugee agency has registered more than 200,000 Syrians who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, and expects those figures to rise. A further one million are thought to have been internally displaced because of the fighting.

Impact, or what effect it will have, is key here because Syria is located in one of the most volatile parts of the world. You cannot expect a crisis of this magnitude to be contained within the area. This can potentially have an affect on Syria's neighbors and cause global ramifications. It has already caused refugees to flee to countries in the area.

Finally, there is indeed some emotional appeal here. Though this is a conflict in a (relatively, I suppose for most people who read BBC News-World) distant part of the world, and one that is known for having a great deal of conflict, there are certainly moments that focus on those being affected by the conflict: the civilians, the women, the children. Here are some examples of the emotional impact a story like this can have:

Also, I wanted to share some multimedia that I found very educational about the history of the Syrian conflict. Not everyone has been following the story for the past year, so I thought this was a very smart way to get people in the loop about a long-term topic. I think they should do this for other long-term stories.

And an interactive map details the areas of conflict. Another example of convergence journalism.