La periodista escribió un reportaje muy claro, y la editora eligió las fotos con mucho gusto.

They are feminine because they refer to female people:

• la periodista = the female journalist
• la editora = the female editor

In Spanish, articles usually show gender clearly:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular

So the sentence is specifically talking about a woman journalist and a woman editor.

Periodista is one of those nouns that often keeps the same form for both genders. The article tells you whether it is masculine or feminine:

• el periodista = the male journalist
• la periodista = the female journalist

This is common with many professions ending in -ista:

• el/la artista
• el/la dentista
• el/la turista

So here, la periodista shows that the journalist is female.

Both are in the preterite, which is the Spanish tense used for completed actions in the past.

• escribió = she wrote
• eligió = she chose

The sentence presents two finished actions:

1. the journalist wrote the report
2. the editor chose the photos

That is why the preterite is the natural choice.

The accent mark shows the stress and also helps identify the verb form.

• escribió = he/she wrote
• eligió = he/she chose

Without the accent, the word would not match the normal written pattern for this verb form. In many third-person singular preterite forms, the stress falls on the last syllable, and Spanish marks that with an accent:

• habló
• comió
• vivió
• eligió

So the accent is both a pronunciation guide and part of the correct spelling.

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun, especially when they describe a quality in a straightforward, factual way.

So:

• un reportaje muy claro = a very clear report

That is the most normal order.

You can sometimes place an adjective before the noun in Spanish, but that often gives it a more literary, emotional, or subjective tone. For a standard sentence, reportaje muy claro is the natural order.

Also, muy goes directly before the adjective it modifies:

• muy claro
• muy interesante
• muy bueno

Here claro means clear, in the sense of easy to understand, well explained, or well written.

So un reportaje muy claro suggests that the report was presented in a clear, understandable way.

Depending on context, claro can also mean things like:

• light in color
• obvious
• of course as an expression: Claro

But in this sentence, it means clear.

Reportaje usually means a report, feature report, or news report, often something more developed and detailed than a simple news item.

It is not always exactly the same as article. Some rough comparisons:

• reportaje = report / feature report
• artículo = article
• noticia = news item / piece of news

So reportaje often suggests journalistic writing with more depth or coverage.

Because foto is feminine:

• la foto
• las fotos

This can feel surprising because it ends in -o, which often signals a masculine noun. But foto is actually a shortened form of fotografía, and fotografía is feminine. That feminine gender stays the same in the shortened form.

Other examples like this exist, but foto is one of the most common.

Using las fotos points to specific photos: the editor chose the photos.

If you said eligió fotos, that would sound more general or less specific, more like she chose photos.

Spanish often uses articles in places where English may or may not use them, but here the difference is similar in both languages:

• eligió las fotos = she chose the photos
• eligió fotos = she chose photos

So las tells us these are particular photos, probably the ones for the report.

Because las fotos is a thing, not a person.

Spanish uses the personal a before a specific human direct object:

• Veo a la periodista. = I see the journalist.
• Conozco a la editora. = I know the editor.

But with things, you normally do not use a:

• eligió las fotos
• escribió un reportaje

So a is not needed here.

Here con mucho gusto means something like:

• with great taste
• with very good judgment
• tastefully

That is probably the intended meaning in this context, because the editor is choosing photos.

Be careful: con gusto or mucho gusto can also appear in other contexts with different meanings:

• Con gusto = gladly / with pleasure
• Mucho gusto = nice to meet you

But in this sentence, because it is about selecting photos, gusto is about taste or aesthetic judgment, not politeness.

Because mucho is modifying the singular noun gusto.

• mucho gusto = a lot of taste / great taste

If the noun were plural, then mucho would also become plural:

• muchos libros
• muchas fotos

Here, gusto is singular, so mucho stays singular too.

Yes, it can be.

The sentence joins two full clauses:

• La periodista escribió un reportaje muy claro
• la editora eligió las fotos con mucho gusto

In Spanish, a comma before y is often omitted when the sentence is short and simple, but it can appear when the writer wants a slight pause or when two longer clauses are being linked.

So both of these can look natural:

• La periodista escribió un reportaje muy claro y la editora eligió las fotos con mucho gusto.
• La periodista escribió un reportaje muy claro, y la editora eligió las fotos con mucho gusto.

The version with the comma gives a bit more separation between the two actions.

Y simply means and, and it connects the two related actions.

The sentence is just adding one fact to another:

• the journalist wrote the report
• and the editor chose the photos

It is the most neutral and natural connector here. Spanish uses y in the same basic way English uses and.

Grammatically yes, but it would change the meaning.

• escribió = she wrote
  A completed action in the past

• escribía = she was writing / she used to write
  Ongoing, habitual, or background action in the past

So:

• La periodista escribió un reportaje muy claro = she wrote a clear report
• La periodista escribía un reportaje muy claro = she was writing a clear report / used to write a clear report

In your sentence, the idea is that both actions were completed, so escribió fits better.

No. Each verb has a different subject:

• La periodista escribió...
  subject = La periodista

• la editora eligió...
  subject = la editora

Spanish does not repeat pronouns like ella unless needed for emphasis, so the nouns themselves make it clear who did each action.

Yes, depending on context, editora can refer to:

• a female editor
• a female publisher
• sometimes a company in publishing, though that usually depends on the wording

In this sentence, because she is choosing photos for a report, the female editor is the most natural interpretation.