Capitol News

Spoiler Alert! This page may contain plot details relating to Sunrise on the Reaping or unintentionally spoil elements of the book.

The Capitol News logo.

"If you didn't see it here, it didn't happen."

—The slogan of Capitol News

Capitol News was an organization which covered the news in and of interest to the Capitol, along with Capitol TV. Their coverage was said to be omnipresent. Typically, the news would cover the weather, local news, and small things such as recipes.

History

The Capitol News station was host to the offices of the Gamemakers for the Hunger Games. They had a handful of shabby offices and a control room. The communicuffs issued to the mentors for the 10th Hunger Games worked only either at the Academy or at the Capitol News station.

Lepidus Malmsey was a reporter assigned to cover the 10th Hunger Games for Capitol News. Androcles Anderson, one of the mentors that year, aspired to be a Capitol News reporter like his mother.

When Coriolanus Snow ended up in the Capitol Zoo's monkey house alongside tributes for the 10th Hunger Games, cameras from the Capitol News were positioned at either end of the zoo's visitors. In response, Coriolanus looked straight at them, and he and Lucy Gray Baird answered Lepidus Malmsey's inquiries. Their story was then projected on several huge public screens around the Capitol.

After bombs unexpectedly detonated in the Capitol Arena, the Capitol News claimed that rebels from any district could have set them off, or even people that escaped from District 13 or a cell in the Capitol itself. Lysistrata Vickers made a statement to one of the reporters, saying that her assigned tribute, Jessup Diggs, had thrown his body over her to protect her. Capitol News also covered the manhunt for Marcus, the male tribute from District 2 who had escaped during the bombing.

Satyria Click, the Academy's communications professor, took the mentors to the Capitol News station so they could become acquainted with the machinery there. Later, Coriolanus was interviewed at the news station on the opening morning about the Games, as they wanted to know about his relationship with Lucy Gray.

When Sejanus Plinth illegally entered the arena, a Capitol News monitor was used to display a split screen with the real feed of the arena next to the darkened version that the public was seeing.

Following his Victory Tour for the 50th Hunger Games, Haymitch Abernathy cut himself off from human contact, living in his house in the Victors' Village and playing Capitol News on his television set 24/7.

Promotional materials

REMEMBER THE WAR

REMEMBER THE WAR: Capitol News is back with Lucky Flickerman's special report on the upcoming 10th Hunger Games and its significance to Panem #TheHungerGames

On September 28, 2023, the official Hunger Games account on TikTok (@hungergamesofficial) uploaded an in-universe news broadcast by Lucky Flickerman, in order to promote The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

BREAKING

BREAKING: Lucky Flickerman addresses the Capitol's rabies hoax and why it's spreading across Panem. #TheHungerGames

On October 4, 2023, @hungergamesofficial posted another news bulletin by Lucky Flickerman debunking an alleged rabies outbreak.

WHO WILL WIN

WHO WILL WIN: The Academy's finest scholars will compete for this year's Plinth Prize. Capitol News' Lucky Flickerman gives his thoughts.

On October 12th, 2023, @hungergamesofficial posted a third Lucky promo explaining everything included in the Plinth Prize.

Trivia

• Coriolanus Snow had a low opinion of Capitol News. He knew that they liked to embarrass people, if they could, and worried about how they would portray his ending up in the monkey house at the Capitol Zoo. He suspected that they might play footage of him ad nauseam, adding music and silly captions such as "Snow's meltdown!" or make it part of the weather report - "Too hot for Snow!"