Jon Stewart, the Modern Day Edward R. Murrow?

The New York Times picks up where we left off, and looks at “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart‘s efforts to help push the 9/11 first responders bill through Congress.

Along the way, it compares Stewart to two titans of broadcast news, Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow:

Though the scale of the impact of Mr. Stewart’s telecast on public policy may not measure up to the roles that Mr. Murrow and Mr. Cronkite played, Mr. Thompson said, the comparison is legitimate because the law almost surely would not have moved forward without him. “He so pithily articulated the argument that once it was made, it was really hard to do anything else,” Mr. Thompson said.

The Times also speaks to “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, who declined to talk about how his program covered the bill, but was happy to opine on Stewart, as he often is.

“Jon gets to decide the rules governing his own activism and the causes he supports,” Mr. Williams said, “and how often he does it — and his audience gets to decide if they like the serious Jon as much as they do the satirical Jon.”

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.