Ginzel became well known for his research into the so-called "Saxon Swamp" corruption scandal, which he reported in Spiegel and Zeit Online. He was taken to court for this case with a complaint of defamation and slander. He lost the case in the original court but at the second instance he was cleared. In 2015 he was imprisoned by pro-Russian rebels whilst researching in East Ukraine. He won the Bavarian TV Prize for the reportage "Shadow play - Putin's undeclared war against the West", which he made together with Markus Weller and he won a nomination for Best Documentary at the German TV Awards 2017 for his reportage "Putin's secret network - how Russia is splitting the West". In 2022, Ginzel was awarded the "Leuchtturm-Preis" of Netzwerk Recherche association (Media Prize laureate in 2003).
Arndt Ginzel and Gerald Gerber were subjected to lengthy police checks during the course of a Pegida demonstration in Dresden. It was provoked by a demonstrator who apparently did not want his face to be photographed and it hampered their reporting work for some considerable time. This led to wide-ranging discussions about press freedom and the role of the police in that conflicted zone that lies between security measures, protecting the freedom of assembly for demonstrators and making sure that journalists can do their jobs unhindered.
In mid-February 2022, Ginzel traveled to the greater Mariupol area with cameraman Gerald Gerber to report on Germans who were volunteering to fight on various sides in Ukraine. He witnessed the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine firsthand. Since then, he has reported directly from Ukraine as a war correspondent for several news outlets.