Published documents contain information on the history of the Press Committee. The creation of this committee was an unsuccessful attempt by Alexander II to direct public opinion by influencing the press. The establishment of the Press Committee was considered in the Council of Ministers (1858). It was a personal initiative of the emperor. The staff of the committee (N. A. Mukhanov, A. V. Adlerberg and A. E. Timashev) was extremely unsuccessful. The inclusion in the committee A. V. Nikitenko helped little. The statute of the committee, created by members of the Press Committee, testified to the “bureaucratic amateurism” of the authors. An attempt by the government to lead the Russian press was doomed to failure. The Press Committee ceased to exist in 1859.