Think it both their faults. The editors were too stupid to realize that changing the story at the last minute will piss off more fans than it would please, and Kishi never had a pulse on what his fan base really thought of his manga. He trusted his editors and the people around him to tell him the truth. While they only cared about Hinata-sama, and the only info they ever gave him was that everyone loved Hinata and hated Sakura. He didn't know any fans or know where could check for the truth so he just trusted them. At first he tried to make Sakura more likable my guess they used to complain she wasn't as pretty as Hinata, but after a while right before the ending he just gave up.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 16 July 2018 - 03:14 PM.