Most academics don't imagine themselves operating as publishers of their insights day by day in the ongoing give and take of society, of politics. 

We academics usually don't value the chance of speaking directly to a wide audience. We usually don't feel the need for non-academic forms of media. We put the power of our understanding on hold or out of reach of people who need it. Most of us do and say this:

"I will teach this powerful idea to my 19-year-old students and maybe in a decade one of them will use it in the world."

And we will not, for the most part, empower students to practice using powerful ideas in the world during the university years.