Nice post, Ian - good & accurate assessment, IMO.
Besides what you've already mentioned, I think there are two other factors/dynamics at work in the world of 'modern communication':
1. The notion of the 'expert' -- and certainly the idea that you have to be/have proven yourself to be an expert before daring to share your insights and experiences -- no longer holds sway. For the younger generation of makers & viewers, a personal and deeply-felt interest is all that's required to 'justify' both creating the work and enjoying it.
2. Related to this: few in the younger generation can stomach the authoritative Kessler style 'voice of God' approach, i.e. the voice-over-heavy narrative style that very clearly tells viewers what they're watching, and that very directly suggests to them what they should be drawing-out from the watching.
It feels like only a few years ago, when I was writing television documentaries for the CBC, that producers and clients all wanted that very thing, that kind of over-arching and meaning-making approach to story telling.
Nowadays, those same producers are scrambling to structure the work without any 'outside voice', and instead looking to use only & wholly a subjective/first person POV approach -- an approach that leaves plenty of 'room' for the audience to bring itself and its own meanings & insights to the table.
Peter