President Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai are holding a joint news conference in Washington, drawing live coverage from the cable news channels, as well as NBC, which broke into regular programming shortly after 1:30 to cover the event.

In this week’s episode of “5 Things You Need to Know This Week,” we go on the road with President Obama, call dibs on #Occupy spots, sample the new McTV menu at McDonald’s, and… there was one more thing… oh yeah, the World Series.

For more videos, check out Mediabistro.tv, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

CNBC’s John Harwood sat down with White House chief of staff Bill Daley yesterday for an exclusive interview in Washington, DC. Among the topics of the interview: Occupy Wall Street, the economic recovery and President Obama’s Thursday exchange with Fox News Channel’s Ed Henry.

Daley did not back away from Obama’s comments that Henry was “the spokesman for Mitt Romney,” telling Harwood, “There are certain people in the media who do seem, at times, to carry the water for certain pieces of the political spectrum.” Watch, beginning at the 1:20 mark, below:

TNT doesn’t normally broadcast the national anthem prior to the start of basketball games, but tonight’s Chicago vs. Atlanta contest will be an exception.

Jim Cornelison, the legendary Chicago Blackhawks’ singer, will perform the national anthem prior to the Chicago Bulls game for the first time.

Cornelison often sings alongside the U.S. armed forces during his performances. Fresh off the death of Osama bin Laden, it should be an emotional scene at the United Center.

Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard will serve as a guest analyst for March Madness on Demand’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

Willard will work the Second Round games on Thursday and Friday. All games will be available on MMOD, which is available on NCAA.com, CBSSports.com and SI.com.

In addition, every game will be available nationally on live television across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

Even in my 20s, I’m all for nap time.

But not during appearances on live television.

Someone get Bobby Knight a blankie, stat!

[H/T Jimmy Traina]

The three big cable news channels all covered Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s speech to the United Nations this afternoon. Earlier in the day the channels covered President Obama’s speech to the general assembly.

Outside at Lincoln Center, prior to the Walter Cronkite memorial service.

At this hour, a veritable who’s who of journalists, political figures, and other newsmakers are either on their way to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York — or have arrived there by now — for the public memorial service for legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite.

TVNewser editors Chris and Kevin are on the scene, and have spotted CBS’s Les Moonves, Bob Schieffer, Morley Safer, Bill Plante, Rick Kaplan, Jeff Greenfield, and Erin Moriarty; former CBS News president Andrew Heyward; NBCers Steve Capus and Brian Williams; ABCers Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson, and Barbara Walters; and former The Insider host Pat O’Brien.

Attendees were asked to arrive early for the 10:30amET service “due to security concerns surrounding the appearance of President Obama at this event,” according to a CBS press release.

President Obama has left the White House en route to the service, where he is scheduled to speak, along with former President Bill Clinton, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and others.

CBS will stream live coverage of the service on CBSnews.com, CBS.com, TV.com, and other sites as well. Chris and Kevin are providing updates today on Twitter, and will have a full report this afternoon.

Walter Cronkite passed away at the age of 92 on July 17.

> Update: Live streaming has begun at cbsnews.com. Spotted in attendance: Katie Couric, Dan Rather and Andy Rooney. Joanna Simon, who had been Walter Cronkite’s companion in the last few years, is also there.

Fishbowl DC has video of President Obama‘s unscheduled appearance in the White House briefing room this afternoon.

The President appeared at the start of today’s daily briefing — apparently catching many reporters by surprise — to make a statement following his comments at Wednesday’s prime time press conference about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

> More: Just after the briefing, CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on-air that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told the press corps this morning — in an off-camera, on-the-record gaggle — that, in Malveaux’s paraphrasing, the Gates “matter was essentially closed.”

But right before this afternoon’s daily briefing, “we had a two-minute warning”, Malveaux recalled on-air. “I heard an anxiousness, a nervousness from one of the White House press folks saying, ‘Two-minute warning, two-minute warning.’ I thought, maybe something is going on. I thought, where is the president right now? Where is he? Sure enough, he walked out just minutes later to address this more fully.”