Things have definitely changed but in my experience they were always changing, one month to the next. Remember the whale experiment? That really threw a lot of things out. There have been eras.
However yes you're right, today writers of interesting stuff don't get rewarded as well. The focus has shifted more to return on investment that curation. We have to roll with it. So there comes this idea for a magazine.
I'll go into more detail next time but it would have sections if done right. Academic / scholarly might be too narrow, can you think of a good parent category for that that doesn't dilute it?