Killed journalist honoured, remembered

Calgary-based reporter Michelle Lang, 34, tries on her fragmentation vest and helmet at Kandahar Airfield on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009. Lang was killed along with four Canadian soldiers by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009, the first Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Colin Perkel)

Reaction is pouring in after the death of a Calgary Herald journalist killed in Afghanistan.

Michelle Lang was killed along with four Canadian soldiers while on a patrol in Kandahar Wednesday afternoon.

In a news release, Bronconnier said the 34-year-old was an "outstanding, hard-working and professional journalist who was eager to tell Canadians back home about what was happening on the ground."

The Calgary flag in front of City Hall will be lowered to half-mast in tribute to Lang's life until sundown on the day of her funeral.

U-S Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson met Lang in Afghanistan.

He said Lang was "a sweet, kind, optimistic young woman who literally always had a smile on her face."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is offering his deepest sympathies to the families of the fallen on behalf of all Canadians.

A health-care reporter for the Calgary Herald who was working for Canwest News Service while in Afghanistan, Lang became the first Canadian journalist to die in the war when the armoured vehicle she was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device.

Lorne Motley, editor-in-chief of the Calgary Herald, said Lang's death will reverberate across the country's news industry.

"Michelle was not only a great journalist, she was a great person -- and that's what's so difficult about this to accept," he told CTV News Channel. "There are lots of really good journalists in our craft, but Michelle was one of those people that really lit up the room."

"When you lose someone of that ability and that type of person, it creates a very large hole in the journalism community," he added. "It's a loss for other journalists and other journalism organizations -- and I hope people don't forget that."

Lang won a National Journalism Award for beat reporting last year and was engaged to be married in July.

She was on a six-week assignment in Afghanistan for Canwest, and arrived in the country only two weeks prior to her death. The attack came as she ventured off of a military base for the first time, embedded with Canadian troops.

Her first article from Afghanistan was published on Dec. 20, with her last article published on the Herald's website on Tuesday.

Denis Skulsky, president and CEO of Canwest Publishing, released a statement on Thursday, describing his "shock and sadness" at Lang's death, which he said was "an unbelievable loss."

Arnold Amber, president of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, said he felt "incredible remorse for the loss of the life of a very young journalist who had so much to look forward to."

"She was killed just doing the job that she had to get done," Amber told CTV News Channel.

Many others expressed their condolences online. By late Thursday morning, a webpage on the popular social-networking site Facebook had been created to remember Lang, and had accumulated close to 1,000 members.

"Michelle, this is not the way I wanted to catch (up) with you since high school, but I am so proud of your achievements and the legacy you have left behind," Gordon Wong wrote. "My condolences to your loved ones. May you rest in peace."

According to Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, 101 journalists and media workers were killed around the world during 2009. That's up from 87 deaths a year earlier.

With files from CTV.ca and The Canadian Press.