As construed by MSNBC, Mr. Sharpton will be a hybrid TV personality, a journalist-participant of sorts, both a maker and a deliverer of the news. “We are breaking the mold,” said Phil Griffin, the network’s president. “Anything he does on the streets, he can talk about on air — we won’t hide anything.”

Though this arrangement may be journalistic, said Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of media at Northeastern University, it is probably not journalism. Its proper name, Professor Kennedy said, is talk-show hosting.

“Maybe a talk-show host shouldn’t have to follow the entire code of ethics for a journalist,” Professor Kennedy said, “but he shouldn’t be able to run roughshod and function as pure political activist.”…

“I’ve known Phil Griffin for a long time,” Mr. Sharpton said. “He said, ‘You can’t do partisan politics unless we’re aware of it and we talk it out.’ I said, ‘My activism is not affected?’ He said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘You do advocacy on education, police brutality, all those things — we have no problem.’ ” (Mr. Griffin agreed with this summary of events.)