Michelle Lang


Michelle Justine Lang was a Canadian journalist. Lang was a Calgary Herald reporter and the first Canadian journalist to die in the War in Afghanistan.

Career

Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Lang was an alumnus of Magee Secondary School and Simon Fraser University. Her first job as a reporter was at the Prince George Free Press. She later moved on to Moose Jaw Times Herald and the Regina Leader-Post, then moved to Calgary to become a print journalist for the Calgary Herald. She won a National Newspaper Award in 2008 for best beat reporting, for her reporting on national and provincial health-care issues.

Death

Lang was on a six-week assignment to Afghanistan for the Herald and Canwest News Service when the armoured military vehicle she was riding in struck a roadside bomb. She died of her wounds; four Canadian soldiers were killed in the blast.
She was survived by her fiancé, Michael Louie.