Michelle Lang

Michelle Lang
Born	31 January 1975(1975-01-31) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died	30 December 2009(2009-12-30) (aged 34) Kandahar, Afghanistan
Occupation	Reporter
Notable credit(s)	Calgary Herald

Michelle Justine Lang (31 January 1975 in Vancouver, British Columbia – 30 December 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan) was a Calgary Herald reporter and the first Canadian journalist to die in the War in Afghanistan.^[1]

Career

Born and raised in Vancouver, 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,^[2] for her reporting on on national and provincial health-care issues.^[3]

Death

Lang was on a six-week assignment to Afghanistan for the Herald and Canwest News Service^[4] when the armoured military vehicle she was riding in struck a roadside bomb.^[5] She died of her wounds and four Canadian soldiers were killed in the blast.^[6]

She was survived by her fiancé, Michael Louie.^[7]

See also

• Embedded journalism

References

1. ^ Miller, Jason (4 January 2010). "Hundreds honour heroes - Four soldiers, journalist repatriated in emotional ceremony at CFB Trenton". Toronto Sun. http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/01/04/12337131-sun.html. Retrieved 18 July 2010. 
2. ^ "List of winners since 1949". National Newspaper Awards. http://www.nna-ccj.ca/wordpress_dev/wordpress/?page_id=64&lang=en. Retrieved 2011-10-15. 
3. ^ "NNA winner at ’09 gala in Montreal dies in Afghanistan blast". National Newspaper Awards. http://www.nna-ccj.ca/wordpress_dev/wordpress/?p=888&lang=en. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
4. ^ "Condolence messages pouring in for reporter killed in Afghanistan". Canadian Press. 30 December 2009. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091230/national/afghan_cda_reporter. Retrieved 2009-12-31. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "5 Canadians killed in Afghanistan". CBC News. 30 December 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/12/30/kandahar-soldiers.html. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
6. ^ IED EXPLOSION RPT (RCIED) CANADIAN PRT : 4 CF KIA 5 CF WIA 1 CIV KIA
7. ^ "Calgary man mourns fiance lost to Taliban bomb". National Post. 31 December 2009. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2397416. Retrieved 2010-07-18. 

External links

• Calgary Herald Afghanistan Dispatches
• Facebook memorial group for Michelle Lang

Persondata
Name	Lang, Michelle
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	31 January 1975
Place of birth	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Date of death	30 December 2009
Place of death	Kandahar, Afghanistan