The boss of a newspaper that was targeted with death threats after endorsing Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump has responded by praising her staff.

The Arizona Republic, published in a Republican-leaning state, broke with tradition and for the first time in its 126-year history endorsed a Democrat for president.

In a piece published on Sunday, Mi-Ai Parrish details some of the threats she and her staff had received.

"You're dead. Watch your back," was one, she said.

Others threatening messages were: "We will burn you down" and "You should be put in front of a firing squad as a traitor".


Some invoked the memory of Don Bolles, an Arizona Republic investigative reporter who was killed by a car bomb in 1976.

Image: The Arizona Republic endorsed Mrs Clinton, saying Mr Trump is 'not qualified'

She responded by highlighting the work of her staff, praising them for defending free speech with integrity and sometimes at personal cost.

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Ms Parrish, a Korean-American, also suggested she was the target of racial abuse, with some saying "we should go live with the immigrants we love so much" and others threatening "violence against people who look or speak a different way".

She touched on her family's history in her response.

"To those of you who have said Jesus will judge me, that you hope I burn in hell, that non-Christians should be kept out of our country, I give you my pastor grandfather.

"He was imprisoned and tortured for being a Christian."

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In its endorsement of Mrs Clinton weeks ago, the Arizona Republic said: "The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified."

Since then, the newspaper has reportedly seen its subscription decline, but it has maintained its stance.

"We chose patriotism over party," said Ms Parrish.

She told Sky News: "I've been a top news executive at newspapers for more than a decade now and I've never seen this kind of vitriol.

"People have an absolute right - and I will defend it - to disagree, to debate, to heatedly disagree, to call me names, which some of them have.

"But the idea that they are threatening our journalists, where they are threatening kids going to the door selling subscriptions...where they're flashing guns at people selling subscriptions in grocery stores...This is not the America I know, this is not the democracy I love.

"It's not funny to be targeting and to be threatening with violence the people who are upholding the First Amendment."

The Arizona Republic is one of several traditionally Republican newspapers that have refused to endorse Mr Trump. Others include the Dallas Morning News and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

USA Today ended its tradition of not taking sides and published an anti-endorsement, contending that Mr Trump "lacks the temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents".

Mr Trump, whose ratings have fallen amid a series of sex claims that he denies, has contended the election "is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media".

He denies the sex allegations.