Michelle Lang

Michelle Justine Lang (31 January 1975 – 30 December 2009) was a Canadian journalist. Lang was a Calgary Herald reporter and the first Canadian journalist to die in the war in Afghanistan.

Biography 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.

Lang was on a six-week assignment to Afghanistan for the Herald and Canwest News Service when the armoured military vehicle in which she was riding struck a roadside bomb. Four Canadian soldiers were also killed in the blast.