[4] In 1995, shortly after the Dayton Agreement which ended the Bosnian War, Kopanja co-founded Nezavisne Novine, a weekly independent newspaper, in order to "foster improved relationships among Serbs, Muslims and Croats in Bosnia".
[6] In August 1999, Nezavisne Novine broke new ground by leading its own investigation and reporting on the murder of 200 Muslim civilians by Serbian police officers in 1992 during the Korićani Cliffs massacre.
"[3][7] Following Kopanja's reporting on atrocities committed by Bosnian Serbs, he was denounced by some groups as a traitor, and began to receive death threats.
[5] Srpski Glas joined Nezavisne Novine in printing a mostly blank front page three days after the bombing, carrying only the words "We Want to Know" to call for further investigation into the attack.
[5] The perpetrators were not found, though Kopanja later stated his belief that Serbian security forces were responsible for the attack in retaliation for his reporting on war crimes.
[11] In the same year, Human Rights Watch awarded him one of its Hellman/Hammett grants, which recognize "writers around the world who have been targets of political persecution and are in financial need".