it makes me quite sad that nowadays a degree must be 'useful' - Universities are supposed to be institutions for learning, rather than job-training grounds. We're getting to the point where, unless you do Law, Medecine, Maths or a Science, you're going to be asked 'why' you're bothering going to university. That just seems wrong...
Media studies, unfortunately, has quite a bad reputation (which is a shame, because I know several MS academics who know their stuff and are doing interesting research). I don't know whether it would be considered useful if you actually wanted to go into a media-related field? But even that is a competative field...
People should go to University because they want to learn. Degrees do, potentially, need a bit more rigour in them, and students need to come out with transferrable skills such as independent working, research ability, good writing, and some common sense. But the idea that a University is there to train you specifically for a job just seems wrong, to me. But then I am doing a PhD, so perhaps I have a different view of Universities and the role of academia in society.