Two Amish newspapers serve a huge, divided, growing and non-geographic community

Unlike many if not most newspapers, The Budget, a 123-year-old weekly newspaper, "which carries the news of Amish and Mennonite communities, from Diagonal, Iowa to the three Minnesota outposts of Bertha, Clarissa and Lenora," is growing, Clare Ansberry reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Its 18,000 subscribers for the most part don't text, email, have computers or smartphones. They use The Budget, which is mailed to their homes, to keep them informed, post notices or exchange helpful hints."

The Ohio-based newspaper, which has 860 correspondents, who aren't paid except with a subscription, publishes stories on simple matters such as "who got married, who went to church, who received dentures—and how 11 chickens went missing when Toby Schrocks of Cisne, Ill., forgot to close the chicken-house door," Ansberry writes. Budget publisher Keith Rathbun (Ansberry photo), who isn't Amish, told her, "It's like someone talking over the back fence to a neighbor."

Each week the Budget runs about 500 letters on 44 to 46 pages that contain no photos at a subscription rate of $45, or $42 for newlyweds. "It does have competition," Ansberry notes. "Die Botschaft—German for "The Message"—costs $44 a year, has a circulation of about 12,000 and also consists of letters and reports from contributors. It's a more conservative alternative to the Budget, which some Amish readers thought was too liberal, say Amish scholars."

The papers have advantages others don't—notably a captive and growing readership, Steve Nolt, a Mennonite history professor at Goshen College in Indiana, pointed out to Ansberry. The most conservative Amish group, whose members limit access to technology, stands at 280,000 in the U.S. and doubles about every 20 years, he said. Most Amish and Mennonites are farmers or tradesmen.

Die Botschaft doesn't allow photos of people in ads, following the Biblical proscription against graven images, but does allow illustrations of equipment and animals, Ansberry writes. "The more lenient Budget, meanwhile, ran an ad with a photo of an 87-year-old grandmother providing a testimonial for a pill that helped stop her itching within three days. It also featured a picture of an Amish couple who lost weight with the help of a health coach." (Read more)