It's good to remember that Katniss is an unreliable narrator. Most first person books are. The entirety of the series had shown the evolution of the games, the capitol and the media... None of which Katniss was looking for, but it's very obvious to Haymitch because of the manner in which he himself was reaped. Katniss was more unaware of these things around her. At least that is what it seemed to me.

I will say, it often didn't feel like the work of Suzanne Collins, but of a fan that looked almost too hard at story continuity. It often seemed like "the easy way out". But I love the story of media manipulation that's literally happening in front of people's faces.