Why is the New York Times Creating Teenage "Rebel" Heroes in Syria Through Selective Reporting

A Faceless Teenage Refugee Who Helped Ignite Syria’s War Feb 8, 2012 New York Times by Kareem Fahim and HWAIDA SAAD http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/world/middleeast/a-faceless-teenage-refugee-who-helped-ignite-syrias-war.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130209&_r=0

[excerpted] this young man carries a burden — maybe an honor, too — that almost no one else shares. He knows that he and his friends helped start it all. They ignited an uprising. It began simply enough, inspired not so much by political activism as by teenage rebellion against authority, and boredom.... 

Majia here: This story is deliberate "making heroes." Now why would the New York Times be propagandizing on behalf of "rebels" in Syria?