To eliminate damage or contamination at a print area during preparation work required for printing by covering the print area of a press plate with a strippable shield and removing the shield from the press plate when the press plate is stretched over a plate cylinder.

A press plate 1 has a print area 8 pretreated such that printing can be performed by simply stretching the press plate and inking it wherein the print area 8 is covered with a shield 4. The shield 4 is affixed to the printing block 1 in an affixing area 5 on the outside of an already pretreated print area 8. In the affixing area 5, the shield 4 can be affixed to the press plate 1, for example, and can be provided with a coating which can be stripped completely from the press plate 1. The shield 4 is preferably formed as a thin foil and an opening 6 for fixing the shield 4 to a magazine can be made in the stretching area 7 of the shield 4.