@matrix I reckon the key distinction between those people and actual intellectuals and documentary filmmakers is how they're always the center of the story they're telling.
You can see that in their produced content, which rarely includes interviews with actual experts, researchers, or the people in the stories that they're telling: it's usually just them straight to camera shot in one day of photography. You can also see it in the way they eschew interviewing people they agree with who are better informed in favor of lionising themselves as champions engaging in debate directly (often poorly) and frequently legitimizing a similar plastic eceleb from the other side of the hegelian dialectic.
Essentially fake lefty Bill Maher shit for zoomers.
I genuinely believe that the vast funds that they misappropriate and sequester in bank accounts, cameras, cocaine, and real estate is the reason why public discourse, investigative journalism, and public interest research is practically dead at this point. They have so much money to burn on quality production, and skype makes lining up some legitimate intellectual or expert so fucking easy nowadays, and they refuse to do it or show any integrity at all.