Stories are incredibly valuable to humans, on the same level as survival.
People see themselves continuously as playing a role in a story than spans millenia. That's what "identity" is really about, and it underlies war, crime, achievement, religion, raising of families, etc.
Historians could be the leaders here, but for whatever reason they are not. Historians haven't put themselves in a position where they could guide human stories for society overall.
So do they have potential value? Yes. But either they aren't able to provide it, or we aren't able to accept it.
Instead we have media narratives, which are a sad substitute.