You’re looking way too deep into it. “Sleeping with someone” is such a common expression that nobody can possibly hope to obfuscate anything with it. Everybody knows they fucked. There will be no mistakes, no confusion. Besides, it’s not unusual for different contexts to use different phrases and expressions for the same thing. The press using a “softer” language is not a uniquely American thing by a long shot and it’s kinda weird to assume it would be.

Not an American either btw.