Conservative author fired from Philadelphia Inquirer after 17 years for tweeting

By: Sean M. Guay

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Syndicated columnist Christine Flowers has been let go by the Philadelphia Inquirer after 17 years.

Flowers was initially confronted by management in mid-February and agreed to go silent on Twitter, but soon reactivated her account against the Inquirer’s wishes, which led to her dismissal.

While claiming that she cannot directly prove she was targeted as a conservative in a strictly liberal news organization, Flowers believes that her social media opinions posted on Facebook and Twitter angered progressives, and were likely a contributing factor.

Flowers is an immigration lawyer, a columnist, and a talk radio personality in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As per her Twitter bio, she is Pro-Life, and admits that she is often mistaken for Sarah Palin.

After publishing her fair well post via social media, she quoted Dylan Thomas writing, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage against the dying of the light.”

Christine Flowers looks forward to having her columns continued to be published in the Delco Times on Sundays.

Some of her opinions in the Inquirer were deemed to be unpopular by progressives. Most recently this year Flowers authored “Thank god for Supreme Court’s look at same-sex foster parents,” and, “I don’t like Meghan Markle. That doesn’t make me racist.”

Flowers expressed her satisfaction in building a solid platform on social media after gaining 500+ Twitter followers.

Conversely, a staunch progressive and former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer published a distasteful tweet in response to the news.

On Wednesday, Flowers posted to Facebook in support of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts writing, “I hope he keeps this up. He is giving aid to those who think the court is in the thrall of leftist judicial activists. Most of whom will be voting for Not Democrat.”

Roberts was speaking out against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. In rare rebuke, Chief Justice Roberts slammed Schumer for ‘threatening’ comments made outside the Supreme Court as the justices were hearing a case on abortion rights.

Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested that President Donald Trump’s court appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, “won’t know what hit” them if they vote to uphold abortion restrictions. He spoke during a rally on the sidewalk in front of the court building.

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said.

Flowers’ post was very popular, gaining 100’s of shares from her growing audience.

The popularity of her opinion doesn’t sit well with extreme progressives who fight desperately in favor of abortion.

Christine Flowers told PhillyMag.com that she agreed to go silent on Twitter, but soon reactivated her account against the Inquirer’s wishes, which was the reason for her dismissal:

Under the old editorship, they had asked me to tone it down, which I did. I just stopped responding for a while. But then my social media presence grew. And my social media voice is more feisty than my column voice. I was more “real” on Twitter and Facebook. That caused some waves, and I understand why it did. I represented the paper. They had me apologize to readers several times when certain readers got angry and went to the editors.

Did anything in particular happen very recently that would have led to this decision to part ways with you?

A couple of weeks ago, I told management that I would deactivate my Twitter account, which I did. They said they thought that this was a good idea and that it would help with my “situation.” I’m sure they were very happy.

I thought that maybe I would keep it inactive during Lent. But then South Carolina and Nevada started happening, and Bernie and Biden, and I was like, ‘Seriously? I can’t stay off of Twitter.’ I want to see what people are tweeting. Jake Tapper and all the other boychik people. So I went back on.