The ABC's Media Watch program has been found to be in breach of the broadcaster's code of practice.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says in an episode broadcast last year the program named a journalist who they claimed failed to "tell all sides of a story in any dispute", as required by the newspaper's professional conduct policy.

The communications watchdog found that the ABC did not make efforts to seek a response from the journalist involved.

It also investigated questions of factual inaccuracy and impartiality during the investigation, but found that the ABC was not in breach on these issues.

The authority says the ABC proposes to acknowledge the breach and add an appropriate clarification to its online transcript of the episode.