Storytellers: important in today's society?

I think they most definitely are. Stories are all that society has to give its members an understanding of their ancestry and of the past. Oral tradition is one thing that people had when they did not have smart phones to communicate instantaneously with people around the world, or Wikipedia to look up a detail they may have forgotten at a moment's notice.

"Those who tell the stories rule the world."

- Hopi Native American Proverb that is also attributed to Plato