Auburn student reporter gets explosive confession from alleged tree poisoner

Alleged tree poisoner Harvey Updyke arrives with his wife Elva at the Lee County Justice Center Tuesday in Auburn, Ala.

A student reporter for The Auburn Plainsman at Auburn University has vaulted to B-list media celebrity status for grabbing an eye-opening confession from an alleged tree poisoner.

Harvey Updyke, 63, a former police officer and longtime University of Alabama football fan, is currently on trial. He is accused of poisoning two iconic oak trees that stand near Auburn's campus after the 2010 Auburn-Alabama rivalry game known as the Iron Bowl. His specific charges: "desecration of a venerated object, first-degree criminal mischief, and unlawful damage or vandalism of a crop facility."

During a break in jury selection proceedings Wednesday afternoon in a courthouse in Opelika, Ala., Plainsman reporter Andrew Yawn approached Updyke to ask about his noticeably poor health. Instead, in a 10-minute conversation with Updyke and his wife, Yawn grabbed the scoop of the summer.

As he reported, "It didn’t happen on a stand, in a courthouse, before a judge or in front of a jury of his peers: Harvey Updyke admitted his guilt before the trial even began. ... 'Did I do it? Yes,' Updyke said outside of an elevator on the second floor of the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika."

The apparent admittance of guilt triggered a stream of stories within the news media and blogosphere. Along with expressions of shock at Updyke's candor just before his trial was set to start, there have been reactions of surprise that Yawn would exclusively grab such an explosive quote when so many local, regional and national newshounds are also covering the case.

Updyke’s lawyer Everett Wess denies the five words were ever said or that the larger conversation even took place. As he stated, "There were other reporters around from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, al.com, AP, major, major media outlets, and all of you were swarming in the courtroom, the lawyers were around the courtroom, and we think it’s kind of odd that a student reporter from Auburn University was able to get this story when all these major media outlets have been here the entire time. No one saw this reporter getting this information from Updyke."

The Plainsman is standing by Yawn’s reporting. Other supporters are confirming the ability of student journalists like Yawn to wrangle newsworthy scoops, even when professionals are present.

As one former Plainsman staffer commented on popular news industry blog JimRomenesko.com, “When I was a reporter for the Plainsman, I got an interview with a sitting governor when he was refusing to give media interviews. He spoke more openly than he should have, maybe thinking I was just a kid. It’s not rare for student reporters to get scoops if they are good reporters, and put themselves in the right place. Sounds like Yawn did exactly that.”

Dan Reimold, Ph.D., is a college journalism scholar who has written and presented about the student press throughout the U.S. and in Southeast Asia. He is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Tampa, where he also advises The Minaret student newspaper. He maintains the student journalism industry blog College Media Matters. A complete list of Campus Beat articles is here.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.