The Daily Mail – and specifically its columnist Jan Moir – are no strangers to writing cutting personal stories on celebrities, and this week they were at it again. Monday’s article on Katherine Jenkins, who had just run Sunday’s London marathon, was headlined: “Katherine the (I’m so) Great: A marathon in full make-up”. The paper also highlighted Jenkins’s alleged “cathedral cleavage” at Baroness Thatcher’s funeral during the previous week, and added: “Shy and retiring Ms Jenkins simply can’t help stealing the limelight.”

Jenkins had run the marathon in 5 hours 26 minutes, raising £25,000 for Macmillan Nurses in memory of her father. But it seemed that Moir had an issue with how she’d done it. “Among all the runners at the start of the race on Sunday,” she wrote, “32-year-old Katherine was uniquely red carpet magnifico. Her biscuity maquillage was flawless. Hosed on, as they say in the trade. The building trade … she can never quite shake herself free from the thick fog of self-interest that seems to cloak everything she does.” Moir apparently felt that the singer was too groomed while running a marathon – but had no alternative suggestion as to the appropriate level of grooming for a 26.2 mile run.

Judging from the readers’ comments that flowed from the article, even the Daily Mail faithful were surprised at the personal attack on someone who’d achieved something positive, and done so for charity. While Moir casually acknowledged the purpose of Jenkins’s run in her article, it was rather lost among the host of negative remarks.

Jenkins defended herself on BBC Radio Wales, saying: “It’s a shame people knock you when you’re trying to do good … Let’s hope we see [Moir] running a marathon next year.” That wry suggestion is now the subject of a Facebook campaign.

Many journalists do an invaluable job of reporting important facts, and perhaps in part, helping to keep those in the spotlight in check. However, a few seem to think their role is to provide personal attacks on whomever they have a problem with that week. Sadly, this probably isn’t the last such article we’ll see from Moir – but all credit to Jenkins for a measured response.