Would you be taken back if you met a renown person?

The managing editor of our local newspaper, who holds a journalism degree, should know better than to repeatedly commit the two errors below. And she can't claim typo, because I have read both these in her articles and columns several times.

1) In yesterday's paper, she said, "Shoppers in the Park Place Shopping Center on Clarksville Street may have been taken back shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday when a crowd gathered outside the TCIM call center facility."

Taken back where? Taken back when? She means taken aback -- aback means startled or dumfounded.

2) When speaking of a well-known person, she will often say, "The renown Joe Schmoe." Renown is a noun, not an adjective.

I was certainly taken aback to know that a renowned person such as Mary did not know these simple words.