[0] https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/when-repub...
But it is subtle manipulation. How many articles have you read about failing schools or school funding challenges, and how often have they mentioned that the U.S. spends among the most in the world per student for K-12 education? As you say, presenting news without context or analysis isn't journalism. But the minute you start picking facts for context, or analyzing the facts, you're inherently incorporating your personal views.
That's not "subtle manipulation", that's bias. Calling it "subtle manipulation" disingenuously implies that journalists unscrupulously distort or change the news. Context & analysis is inherently biased, no surprises there, but you're approaching substance-free cynicism when you say stuff like "Journalists don't believe it's their job to talk about why something may or may not work, but they really want to."
Journalists don't believe it's their job to talk about why something may or may not work, but they really want to. They have a couple of ways to do that.
One is to select "experts" to comment on a story who agrees with the journalist. For any topic of enough importance you can usually find people who will present things your way, even if others would disagree.
Another is to use a library of common phrases that create an impression in the mind of the reader without actually committing to anything concrete. For instance:
• Mr Smith was under fire last night after proposing <X>
• A new idea from Mr Smith has been creating excitement after he launched <X> last night
• According to experts, <Y>
• <Z>, according to analysts
etc etc.
It'd be more honest if journalists wrote "X said Y and I think he's a douchebag because Z" but that'd make them, in their eyes, mere bloggers, so they rely on more subtle manipulations instead.