I was going to comment on that, but you beat me to it.You were on such a roll there! But again, a person owns the copyright to their work the moment they create it, not when they seek to publish it. And having something published does not necessarily mean that all copyright rights are transferred as well. It could be one-time rights in North America, worldwide rights in perpetuity, etc. There are a variety of ways to structure copyrights when they're sold or licensed.
You might want to read up on copyright law some more before making statements about it.
My ex was a writer. When he sold stories or articles to magazines, he usually sold "FNASR" (First North American Serial Rights).
He wrote a weekly column for The Montreal Gazette. The freelancers actually threatened to go on strike because the newspaper wanted to put their stuff on the internet without paying them extra for that. They hadn't sold "electronic rights".
Here's an article about writer's rights, but it applies to other arts as well: Rights: What They Mean and Why They're Important
Addie, you may be thinking of contests. It's a slimey trick that some magazines do. In the fine print of the contest rules, they often write that anything submitted becomes the property of the magazine or newspaper. They may even specify that they get "all rights".