You /can/ zoom in, and turn off the UI to just see spaceships in space blowing each other up, and it is beautiful. However, the spreadsheet view with zoomed out camera is more efficient for actually getting things done, which is why all the serious players in serious battles do that.
(It would be really nice if some of the big alliances could spare one guy to be dedicated cameraman when landmark events happen, but I'm not aware of anyone doing that :P)
They often do, it makes for great material for propaganda videos. It's easier to do for pre-planned battles though, and/or they may have felt they didn't want to spare any ships and risk sacrificing firepower. Or most likely just nobody thought of it.
(It would be really nice if some of the big alliances could spare one guy to be dedicated cameraman when landmark events happen, but I'm not aware of anyone doing that :P)