Deca is a cooperative of award-winning journalists bringing deeply reported, global stories straight to your phone, tablet, or computer. Half a century ago, photographers responded to changing times by banding together into photo agencies—a pretty good idea. It took us writers a while to catch on.
Until this month, the Syrian revolution-turned-war had largely slipped from the news pages. It bursts into view in snapshots: the image of a drowned toddler, face down on a Turkish beach as his family fled a war that has killed at least half a million people; the black flags of the Islamic State fluttering, and all the barbarity and fear that accompanied them; the Kurdish girls with guns opposing