Whither the value of academia?

I HAVE always considered myself a traditional academic, not a “contemporary” one. What’s the difference?

To me, a traditional academic is one who does a modest amount of research, spends a modest amount of grant money, produces an acceptable number of peer reviewed papers (mostly in national journals), has a number of books under his or her belt, many articles in the mass media, and a lifetime of talks, forums and interviews by the press on a variety of important social, cultural, religious and political issues (most of the time leaning towards being against the establishment).