It is not as if history books are usually just written reports with no citations of evidence.
And you don't get a laboratory with a book about science.
Again, the difference is more what is being studied, not that one is "fiction" and the other "truth".
As I said before,
There's nothing wrong with writing information down. I'm just agreeing with the above statements with respect to the limitations that are present with respect to written records. Alternatively, with a photograph or video footage, in the least, we have an additional means of observation that are beyond certain forms of biased interpretation, and the informations is beyond a form which can be misinterpretted in certain ways.
A photograph of a cake gives a more clear understanding of said cake, than a verbal description. A verbal description could be misunderstood or loosely described both upon the Initial conjuring and transcription, as well as misunderstood during the ultimate reception and interpretation.
Which goes back to the original purpose of police officers wearing body cameras. Because cameras allow us to examine events with a greater amount of accuracy in scenarios where written or verbal thoughts otherwise may fail.
And in regards to history books, thankfully they often contain photographs. Which is a form of evidence in which some might cite, which can grant more clarity to otherwise just written word.
With respect to laboratories, information is also contained in written books (again, there's nothing wrong with writing things down), but also, typically experiments are held within the laboratory to affirm written information. We might also have things like photographs to help us understand what is otherwise just written as well.
And I agree that it's a matter of what is being studied. And what I am saying is that things like photographs or video recordings, can enable us to view concepts in ways with more clarity and less opportunity for misunderstanding, than just written words, hence body cameras on police. A verbal description could be misunderstood or loosely described both upon the Initial conjuring and transcription, as well as misunderstood during the ultimate reception and interpretation. But a video recording of the same concept, removes a great deal of human error and it removes the flaws of our conjured recollection and interpretations. Again, hence body cameras on police.