Barrett returns to BusinessWeek as AME for investigations

Paul Barrett, who left BusinessWeek magazine earlier this year to return to The Wall Street Journal, is now coming back to the business weekly, according to a memo from editor Stephen Adler distributed this morning to employees.

Barrett had been with BusinessWeek for 15 months as assistant managing editor for investigations until leaving in January.

Adler wrote, “I’m delighted to announce that Paul Barrett is rejoining BusinessWeek in his previous role as assistant managing editor for investigative projects. Paul will work closely with Rob Hunter, assistant managing editor for features, and with senior editors and reporters in a collective effort to nurture high-impact stories and series.

“Articles that Paul edited in 2007 – including ‘The Poverty Business,’ ‘Prisoners of Debt,’ and ‘Fresh Pain for the Uninsured’ — have already won multiple awards and are in the running for more. A number of terrific projects are in the works for 2008, and it’s great to have Paul back on the team (as of April 14) to help guide these exciting efforts.”

Barrett has reported and edited for the Journal from 1987 to 2005, with stints as a reporter in Philadelphia, New York and Washington. He has been U.S. Supreme Court correspondent, deputy legal editor and, for the past five years, a leading editor of Page One stories. Three of his own articles have been nominated by the newspaper for the Pulitzer Prize, and his 2003 piece on immigrant Muslim students in the U.S. won a 2004 Missouri School of Journalism Lifestyle Award.